Category: Suppliers

July 19, 2023

A looming strike at one of the major shippers in the U.S. threatens to reignite supply chain woes, in a year when logistics snafus caused or worsened by the pandemic seemed to finally be easing. “The impact of a supply […]

July 6, 2023

Talks between UPS and its U.S. workers broke down early Wednesday morning with no further negotiations scheduled, increasing the likelihood of a strike weeks before their contract expires on July 31. The stickling point appears to be wages and pension. […]

July 3, 2023

If the theme of the logistics industry in 2021 was “absorb the growth,” the theme today is “accommodate the growth.” While the financials are still coming in for third-party logistics operators (3PLs), all indicators show that 2022 shaped up as […]

June 23, 2023

Descartes Systems Group’s second annual Home Delivery Sustainability Report finds consumers expect one-third of retailers to publish the carbon footprint of individual deliveries currently and 59 percent to do so within five years. The survey of 8,000 consumers across nine […]

June 22, 2023

With the increased focus on environment, social and governance (ESG) in supply chains by customers, investors, employees and the growing number of laws, supply chain leaders are forced to adapt or die. According to a recent report released by Ernst […]

June 15, 2023

Never more so have retailers needed the mantra of resource optimization to cascade throughout their operations. Supply chain managers are having to become even smarter about how to reduce costs and drive efficiencies throughout their warehouse and supply chain. Automation […]

June 13, 2023

Supply chain management is a critical aspect of the retail industry and is crucial to your company’s success. However, managing a supply chain can be daunting, with numerous challenges, such as inventory management, demand forecasting, and route optimization. Fortunately, advancements […]

June 12, 2023

In an inflationary economy, higher business costs necessitate the alignment between functions not only within the retailer, but also with partners, supplies and customers. As an evolution of the supply chain function from cost-center to value-creator, value chain describes the […]

June 5, 2023

Ingka Investments, the investment arm of Ingka Group, owner and operator of 482 IKEA stores and e-commerce in 31 counties has acquired Made4net, a global provider of cloud-based Warehouse Management System (WMS) & end-to-end supply chain execution software. The Made4net […]

May 16, 2023

A Gartner global survey of 499 supply chain leaders taken late last year finds 65 percent anticipate it will be easier to fund new technology investments, with 73 percent of supply chain IT budgets this year to be allocated to […]

May 3, 2023

The machine learning market is growing in leaps and bounds, and experts project continued growth. A report by McKinsey indicates that AI has a large potential to be a significant driver of economic growth. Amid relentless competition, organizations are turning […]

April 14, 2023

Nestled close to the geographic center of Ohio sits one of the busiest supply chain regions in North America. Columbus, Ohio, and its surrounding communities are no secret to logistics professionals who use the region to bring goods into the […]

April 13, 2023

How fast do consumers want their online orders delivered? Perhaps not as quickly as retailers think, according to a Wall Street Journal article posted yesterday. Jungle Scout’s Consumer Trends Report from July 2021 found 41 percent of consumers expect their […]

April 12, 2023

Amazon.com has begun charging return fees on products brought to the UPS Store. The retail and technology giant has begun charging a $1.50 fee when customers drop off product returns at a UPS location instead of a nearby Amazon Fresh, […]

April 11, 2023

Even if the social distancing and vaccination campaigns that marked the early pandemic have largely faded, some 2020 shifts — namely, what kinds of packaging and envelopes brought online purchases to American doorsteps — are sticking around. A 2022 report […]

April 11, 2023

While February is usually the slowest month of the year for imports, the number was the lowest since May 2020 when many factories in Asia, along with many U.S.-based retailers, were closed due to the pandemic. By Q2 of 2022, […]

April 7, 2023

Sixty-six percent of North American organizations across ecommerce, manufacturing, retail, transport/logistics supply chain and wholesale businesses say their investment in the direct-to-consumer (DTC) delivery model has increased since early 2020. In fact, 35% say it has increased significantly. By increasing […]

April 6, 2023

The newest generation of artificial intelligence (AI) would seem to be tailor-made for the behind-the-scenes operational complexity of today’s retail organization — and in many ways it is. Generative AI-powered solutions’ ability to ingest non-linear, non-numerical types of data, including […]

April 4, 2023

Robots were everywhere last month at ProMat, a major material handling trade show, along with were autonomous guided vehicles, artificial intelligence, inventory and network optimization software and mobile technology. Extended supply chain transparency and sustainability were frequently discussed in educational […]

April 3, 2023

Armstrong & Associates, Inc. has released an expanded update to its best-selling report covering the various trends between third-party logistics providers (3PLs) and the customers they serve. “Co-managing the turbulence: Trends in 3PL/Customer relationships” features an analysis of over 8,400 […]