In 2014, the UK imported something in the region of $60bn worth of goods from China, which accounted for around 9% of China’s exports. Some of will have travelled by air, some by sea, all of it, ultimately, ended up in warehouses, lorries, trucks and vans. Unless you happened to miss (more…)
I’ve just finished sifting through some of the recent stories that have gone up on eDelivery, making selections for our weekly newsletter. If you haven’t signed up for it, you’ll find details of how to at the end of this column. There are three themes that stand out from the (more…)
Last month we ran a number of pieces on the theme of home delivery and the growing headache of the final mile. For a lot of people – and you might be one of them – home delivery has never been an ideal solution; if you’re out at work every (more…)
Things aren’t always as simple as they superficially appear to be – everyone knows this. Take the weather as one example. Here in the UK, last month wasn’t much to write home about. Lower than average levels of sunshine and higher than average rainfall bring to mind the typical British (more…)
If someone says the word stacks to you, what do you think of? Pancakes, perhaps? Money, maybe? Do you mishear it as Stax and end up with Booker T & the MGs playing in your head? Or do you think of the M20 being used as a lorry park? Information (more…)
Whether you dismiss it as generational impatience on a colossal scale, an inability to think for themselves and plan in advance, or see it as the natural consequence of a cohort that has grown up among rapidly-developing tech, Millennials stand poised to shake-up the way the delivery industry operates. Just (more…)
Today’s the day Amazon marks its 20th birthday. When it started life it was one of the first online merchants, selling books and gathering enough data about its customers so that it could eventually start selling them other things that match their interests. Now it’s unleashed a day of promotions (more…)
It only seems like last week that I was writing about Amazon in my weekly editor’s column, and here I am doing it again. But before I find myself lost up the Amazon once more, I’d like to tell you about some customer research from Yodel that eDelivery was given an exclusive (more…)
The news that Amazon has introduced its Prime Now service to the UK, offering one and two hour delivery to addresses in London can be looked at in a number of ways. But it can’t be ignored. Such is the way of the world with the behemoth of ecommerce that (more…)
It’s easy to be cynical about the so-called sharing economy. I should know, as I frequently am. But you don’t need to look far to find real examples of businesses that are shaking up the markets they enter, and in one case in particular, turning it inside out. With its (more…)
I doubt very much that anyone reading this can remember the post-WWII era that saw the breakthrough in labour-saving devices. But since then, there’s been an explicit promise where technology is concerned – it will save us all time and effort. In fact, it goes back hundreds of years before (more…)
Three interesting little developments in the delivery world have caught my eye in recent days. In no particular order, they were as follows. Amazon is running a social media competition from Universal Pictures to promote the movie Minions. You know who they are, right? Funny little characters that appeared in (more…)
There’s a lot of focus on what’s round the corner – the next-big-thing phenomenon, referred to here just a few weeks ago. And rightly so. After all, new services are the lifeblood of a successful business in a competitive market. But it wouldn’t do to turn your back on the (more…)
Unless you’ve been away, or you were hiding under a rock or at the bottom of a well, you’ll be aware that the people of Ireland voted last week in a referendum, the result of which will eventually lead to a change in the law regarding same-sex marriage. It’s ok, (more…)
Someone once told me that business is like a car, the only time it will run by itself is if it’s going downhill. Someone else once told me that the pace of change we are currently experiencing is the slowest it will ever be – it’s only going to get faster. (more…)
In the wake of the UK General Election result, the issue of a European exit referendum is back on the agenda. Europe is on the agenda here at eDelivery, too. One of the reasons is that, although it generated a good many fewer headlines, last week also saw the publication (more…)
Two zero four. 204 days, that is. Until Friday 27 November. I shan’t call it by its other name, not just yet anyway. In terms of planning, it’s all over bar the screaming and shouting, according to most people I’ve talked to recently. And there will be screaming and shouting. (more…)
Did you recognise the reference to the iconic 90s TV quiz show Blockbuster in the headline? Well, if this week’s eDelivery newsletter were an episode of Stephen Fry’s panel quiz show, QI, this week’s letter would undoubtedly be P. In our case it’s P for partnerships, P for planning and (more…)
If you’re one of the many people who signed up for an eDelivery subscription at last month’s eDelivery Expo (EDX at the NEC) this could well be the first eDelivery newsletter you’ve received. In which case, I’d like to personally thank you for subscribing and bid you welcome to eDelivery, (more…)
It feels like spring has well and truly sprung this week, at least across most of the UK. And in one of those clichéd segues so beloved of media types, the green shoots of spring that I see all around me have brought to mind the green shoots of new (more…)