An interesting revelation this week was the record number of next day deliveries for May, as recorded by the IMRG, as well as the record low for on-time delivery. The company questioned whether customers actually care about next day delivery or whether it’s just something they’ve got used to but (more…)
Morrisons has extended its home delivery service from north London into south London and the south-east, delivering into most of Surrey and Kent and a further two million homes. The company claims that the expansion now enables it to reach 70% of UK households. Customers will be able to order (more…)
Amazon has announced Prime Day 2018 will be on July 16 and will run for 36 hours, up from 30 hours last year. The day will include more than one million exclusive deals for Prime customers worldwide. As well as extending the promotional period Amazon is also adding 50% more (more…)
China’s largest retailer JD.com has launched a fleet of hydrogen energy delivery trucks in Greater Shanghai. They take three minutes to refill, can travel for 300km per tank while carrying up to 3.5 tons of cargo, and emit only purified water. The new fleet is the first sizeable commercial deployment (more…)
May saw the highest use of next-day services for delivery, according to the latest figures from the IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index. The figures showed that online parcel delivery order volumes were up by 14.8% year on year in May with the use of next day or specified delivery hitting (more…)
Amazon has launched a new programme aimed at helping individuals launch their own delivery business to deliver Amazon packages, whether they have previous logistics experience or not. Available in the US it claims that successful owners would be able to earn as much as $300,000 in annual profits, operating fleets (more…)
XPO Logistics, the largest provider of last-mile logistics for heavy goods in North America, has announced that it is to add augmented reality to its Ship XPO consumer self-service platform. The technology can be used by shoppers to help visualise the best place for heavy goods such as sofas, beds (more…)
DPD has opened two brand new, purpose-built facilities. The company has relocated its Nottingham depot to a new 60,000 sq ft state-of-the-art distribution centre at Blenheim Park Road in Nottingham. It has also opened a new purpose-built 45,200 sq ft depot in Barking. The new units will create nearly 400 (more…)
The latest returns data from Barclaycard this week shows that UK retailers are seeing £7 billion of purchases returned each year. Unsurprisingly the rate is higher for fashion, footwear and accessory retailers and the report highlights the importance of fit for those surveyed. Nearly half of those surveyed said they (more…)
B-Stock, the business to business marketplace for returned, excess and other liquidation stock has received $65 million in funding from growth equity firm Spectrum Equity, the first time PE funding has been pumped into the reverse supply chain and liquidation sector. The investment will help expand its technology-based liquidation solution. (more…)
The future of logistics depends on four key elements: customer-centricity, sustainability, technology and people, according to the latest Logistics Trend Radar, from DHL. The series reveals 28 key trends that could impact the logistics industry in the next five to ten years. The report suggests that customer centricity will be (more…)
UK retailers are seeing £7 billion of purchases returned each year with a quarter of retailers (26%) saying they have seen a rise of returns instore and online over the last two years and the number of items returned up by 22% on average. The research by Barclaycard, says that (more…)
Women’s value fashion retailer Bonmarche has focussed on improvements in its supply chain and greater efficiencies within its distribution centre in an effort to reduce costs, the company said in its year-end results this week. Within its logistics operations the company carried out a strategic review in early FY18 which (more…)
Amazon has extended Amazon Prime Wardrobe, its try before you buy service, to all Prime members in the US. The service was initially launched as an invite-only trial last year but the service has now been rolled out to anyone signed up to the Prime service. Customers using the service (more…)
This week Amazon has become the latest retailer to launch installation services in the UK, meaning that customers ordering items such as TVs or white goods can not only get them delivered to their homes but assembled or installed too. Such services are a great value-add for customers and it’s (more…)
Amazon has announced Hub by Amazon, a new locker solution for apartment residents in the US that can be used for delivery of Amazon items as well as packages from other senders. The solution is already available to 500,000 residents from New York to San Francisco, according to Amazon with (more…)
UPS has announced a $130 million investment in natural gas technology in the US. The company is to build an additional five compressed natural gas (CNG) fueling stations and add more than 700 new CNG vehicles including 400 semi-tractors and 330 terminal trucks to its fleet. It follows similar investments (more…)
Amazon has launched Home Services, an installation and assembly support service, in the UK. The service allows shoppers buying more than four million products on the site to schedule installation or assembly support from a professional when they check out. The services can also be bought if customers have bought (more…)
Connect Group, which owns Pass My Parcel, has announced that it is to close the business and wind down the associated Parcel Shop network. The announcement was made in a trading update by the group this week. The Pass My Parcel network includes more than 3,500 parcel shops and has (more…)
Morrisons has awarded a six-year contract to manage its wholesale logistics operations to DHL Supply Chain. The new contract will see DHL provide order fulfilment, store delivery and IT services to serve the retailer’s wholesale operations, starting with 1,650 stores in the McColl’s Retail Group. Those stores are exclusively served (more…)