German online retailer Zalando has teamed up with the Belgian postal service bpost to trial in-home deliveries, in which delivery personnel are granted access to customers’ homes. The trial saw participating homes equipped with a “smart” doorlock and doorbell. The bpost courier would ring the smart doorbell, which sent a (more…)
French retailer Galeries Lafayette is working with a start-up to use hydrogen in its last mile delivery vehicles. The collaboration with renewable provider Akuo Energy will see Galeries Lafayette and other companies using a fleet of 400 hydrogen-powered vehicles. The network will initially consist of 33 refuelling stations in Paris (more…)
Ocado’s CEO hailed the success of its new automated warehouses as growing numbers of orders pushed up revenues in the final quarter of 2018. The online grocer saw revenues rise 12% to £390.7 million in its Q4 results. While the average order of numbers per week rose 13.1% to 320,000, (more…)
Today eDelivery launches its end-of-year reader survey, which aims to put a spotlight on the biggest trends shaping retail logistics. Against the backdrop of a struggling high street, an uncertain international landscape and more demanding consumers, logistics is a potential area to differentiate on. Readers are invited to weigh in (more…)
Amazon has been disrupting the logistics industry for years, but its latest step may be a difficult one for retailers to follow. From the end of November to 5 December Amazon UK ran a “free delivery week”, in which its free delivery service was extended to all orders with no (more…)
By Ed Bradley, director and co-founder of Virtualstock Dropshipping is a supply chain management method in which the retailer does not keep goods in stock but instead transfers the customer orders and shipment details to either the manufacturer, another retailer, or a wholesaler, who then ships the goods directly to (more…)
Royal Mail has partnered with the University of Warwick to offer a new training programme for staff. The postage company has announced that 25 of its staff are enrolled in a three-year development programme with the university’s Warwick Manufacturing Group (WMG) which will allow them to gain an MSc in (more…)
December is a time of celebration, festivity – and for the logistics sector, intense pressure. John Perry, MD at Scala, writes about how retailers can cope with the seasonal spike. It’s Christmas, companies are scrambling to get their deliveries completed in time and order fulfilment is top of the agenda. (more…)
A round-up of the week’s news, including an acquisition by Whistl, Parcelforce upgrading its Manchester depot and some sobering predictions for rivals of Amazon. Whistl ups customer service capabilities with acquisition Whistl has acquired a UK-based fulfilment and contact centre company as it looks for new areas of growth. (more…)
Supply chain departments are struggling to scale digital pilot projects due to a lack of focus, a new study suggests. The survey by Capgemini found that while the average organisation has 29 digitisation projects in the idea, proof-of-concept (POC) or pilot stage, only 14% had succeeded in moving beyond this (more…)
An Estonian start-up has unveiled a prototype for a robot courier which aims to fully automate the last mile. The self-driving robot will be able to ferry a package from a local distribution centre and place them in a personal parcel locker at a customer’s home. This will then trigger (more…)
To talk to Tim Robinson, CEO of Doddle, the last mile is going to remain a major challenge for retailers for many years to come. In an exclusive interview with eDelivery, he outlined both the physical (limited roadspace and vehicles) and management challenges (disorganised and demanding consumers) that retailers face (more…)
Flexible transport networks, automation and data are the key strategies for meeting the increasingly complex last mile of delivery in coming years, according to a new study. The report by DHL and Euromonitor examines the changes resulting from growth in the urban population – 600 million more people by 2030 (more…)
Click and collect providers such as Doddle were “drunk on proximity” before the latter dramatically reoriented its business model, its CEO claims. Tim Robinson, who founded the parcel pick-up service in 2014, tells eDelivery that things have fundamentally changed since then – not least with the addition of competition from (more…)
Consumers will now be able to track last mile deliveries through Google Search, thanks to a new initiative from XPO Logistics. The heavy goods delivery company will now allow consumers to track their deliveries by typing the phrase XPO Package tracking into the normal Google search box. They can then (more…)
Six companies have combined to form the UK’s largest privately owned logistics company. Private equity firm EmergeVest announced that it had created EV Cargo from the logistics companies which it has invested in since 2013. These are supply chain software company Adjuno, logistics providers Allport Cargo Services and CM Downton, (more…)
Amazon is testing the potential of parcel delivery by drones at a new facility in Belgium. The SAFIR consortium has launched the DronePort facility at a disused airport in the Belgian province of Limberg as well as in the port of the city of Antwerp. The online marketplace’s Amazon Prime (more…)
UK toy seller The Entertainer has signed up Doddle to support its click and collect offering over peak season. Online customers will be able to collect and return parcels from 500 Doddle locations across the UK, open between 7am and 10pm. These include hundreds of Debenhams and Morrisons stores. The (more…)
The UK’s prime minister Theresa May has said that her Brexit deal will ensure “frictionless trade across borders and a free trade area with the European Union” in comments to Parliament. The statements at Prime Minister’s Questions came as May’s cabinet prepared to meet this afternoon to discuss the draft (more…)
The logistics industry will be keenly watching the outcome of a key meeting today with the UK’s prime minister Theresa May and her cabinet. She will be hoping to win support for a deal on what the state’s future relationship with the EU will look like after sparring with Labour (more…)