2021 was certainly a year of change for the retail industry. In the first of a series of 2022 predictions Chris Jones, executive vice president, Industry & Services at Descartes Systems Group, reflects on the challenges that faced supply chains in 2021 and predicts the trends we are likely to see in (more…)
The lack of HGV drivers is sending shockwaves throughout the industry. In this piece Lucy Pringle and Jonny Gribben, partners at law firm Womble Bond Dickinson, look at whether firms can rely on force majeure to avoid liability if orders are late. The current shortage of HGV drivers is well (more…)
Online order fulfilment is complex and brings inherent customer service challenges. Does that make it easier to make the case for greater automation within fulfilment centres, asks Charlie Walker, marketing director of Walker Logistics For third party logistics (3PL) services companies investment in automation has traditionally been hard to justify: the (more…)
Building sustainability into digital fulfilment commerce provides hard commercial benefits for retailers if it’s done right, says Romulus Grigoras, Cofounder and CEO at OneStock. Retailers can be forgiven for wondering how they should continue their journey to sustainability. The media is full of often conflicting advice as to the best way (more…)
Al Gerrie, founder and CEO of ZigZag explains the need for better education to prevent consumers falling victim to delivery scams. With the rise in online shopping, delivery and returns services understandably became a target for fraudsters. Seeing the news of delivery text scams making the headlines recently, it’s outrageous (more…)
Eight supply chain technology themes will dominate in 2021, according to Gartner, who says the themes have been chosen for their transformational potential and ability to foster operational resiliency across business functions, technology, and service delivery. “This year, we’ve decided to focus on broader, overarching technology themes rather than individual (more…)
David Grimes, founder and CEO of Sorted, says that connecting ecommerce experiences with instore is crucial going forward – and as ever delivery will play a huge role too. Since lockdowns around the UK eased, shoppers are splashing the cash, filling the tills and splurging to purge the pain of (more…)
Jo Bradley, business development manager for packaging solutions at Quadient, says that with the cardboard supply market under stress, and forthcoming changes to packaging and waste regulations retailers and shippers need to act now. As is well known, on-line sales, most of which are shipped in cardboard boxes, rose 74% (more…)
Like many couriers, Hermes has seen a vast surge in shipments during the pandemic, buoyed by the global shift to ecommerce. The company is now looking to reach the “next level of excellence”, says newly appointed Chief Transformation Officer Fash Sawyerr. As a 10-year veteran of the private equity industry, (more…)
Multiple online retailers and carriers have been reporting disruption in their UK networks this week, as the twin effects of Covid and Brexit hit. The main disruption on the Covid side currently seems to be from staff shortages: workers, like other citizens, are falling ill in high numbers. Royal Mail (more…)
Adoption of online grocery shopping has accelerated rapidly during the Covid-19 pandemic. In the UK, for example, according to Nielsen, online grocery spending more than doubled to £1.2 billion in the four weeks ending 16 May. Ecommerce accounted for 13% of all UK grocery sales, compared to 7% in the (more…)
Amazon has announced it will bundle a same-day grocery delivery service into Prime in much of the UK. The service is available immediately in 40 postcodes across the south-east, including in London, Woking and Guildford. It will be extended to the rest of the UK by the end of the (more…)
UK discount retailer Poundland announced this week it is trialling a home delivery service as part of a packages of measures designed to ensure resilience during the Covid-19 pandemic. The raft of measures, called Project Diamond, include opening new stores, updates to IT and a new pricing structure which will (more…)
Recent weeks have seen automation and robotics start-ups netting new funding from investors, in a sign that retailers may be embracing automation in the wake of the coronavirus disruption. Locus Robotics, a warehouse robotics company which counts DHL and Boots amongst its customers, netted $40 million in its latest funding (more…)
As the COVID-19 pandemic opens divisions between physical and online retailers, health food seller Holland & Barrett has accelerated its move to online and to a more flexible logistics model, according to its ecommerce operations head. Paz Khorana, [Head of Web Operations] says that the company has adopted a ship-from-store (more…)
Uber has announced two new services which put it squarely on the home turf of traditional parcel carriers. Uber Connect allows consumers to send parcels to each other. This service is available in 25 cities in Australia, Mexico, and the US. Uber Direct sees the company doing deliveries for retailers (more…)
Many non-essential retailers in the UK are now closing their doors to customers amidst the coronavirus pandemic, but online retail is seeing a surge in demand and in some cases, becoming a vital lifeline. eDelivery rounds up insight and best practice from the industry on how warehouse workers, drivers, and (more…)
The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is already leading to changes in the way people shop, ranging from the minor to the fundamental. Within the industry, companies are already expecting these changes to long outlast the crisis. As citizens are encouraged increasingly to stay in their homes, many are opting for online (more…)
A number of UK retailers and delivery companies have announced new rules for how couriers behave on the doorstep as the coronavirus (COVID-19) epidemic grows in severity. Despite the UK government only telling people who show symptoms to stay at home, many citizens are changing their behaviour to avoid travelling, (more…)
With public health authorities warning that a widespread outbreak of the new coronavirus strain (COVID-19) in the UK is overwhelmingly likely, the retail logistics sector may be facing a severe test of its employment structures. At the time of writing, Worldometers.com lists the worldwide number of COVID-19 victims at over (more…)