E-commerce

Consumer preferences suggest businesses should reconsider chasing the Amazon model.

Consumer preferences suggest businesses should reconsider chasing the Amazon model.

Company officials said that this effort will add roughly 140,000 square-feet of building space and bring its total to more than 430,000 square-feet, with an estimated cost of $70 million.

Study uncovers facts supporting rule of thumb; it costs seven times more to land a customer than to retain one.

A new report from JLL posits the idea that retail supply chain managers will become increasingly reliant on the conversion of brick-and-mortar stores to fulfilment centers providing package pick-up and ship-from-store services.

A recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article noted that Amazon is testing its own delivery network for “last-mile” services in San Francisco, with plans to do the same in Los Angeles and New York.

Buyers prefer online ordering, place high value on post-sales support.

A recent study by the United Postal Service identified Kansas City as the optimal location for an e-commerce fulfillment facility due to its low costs and central location.

Metro Post, an initiative rolled out by the USPS in December 2012 in San Francisco that serves as a package delivery service providing customers with same-day delivery from participating locations within a defined location, will cease operations on March 1, according to a report from the USPS Office of Inspector General. But that does not mean the effort is squashed permanently, as USPS continues to go forward with Metro Post in New York.

Consumer spending helps GDP post decent gains over the last two reported quarters.

Fourth quarter revenue for transportation and parcel bellwether UPS headed up 2.8 percent annually to $14.9 billion, the Atlanta-based company reported today. Adjusted operating profit at $1.9 billion was down 7.3 percent, and earnings per share at $1.25 was off $0.7 from a year ago and missed Wall Street estimates of $1.43 per share.

Logistics Management Group News Editor Jeff Berman recently caught up with Maria Haggerty, president at Dotcom Distribution, an Edison, New Jersey-based provider of fulfillment and logistics services for premium e-retailers about the many facets of e-commerce and supply chain- and logistics-related impacts they have.

Citing a compressed peak season and what it described as an unprecedented level of online shopping that included a surge of last-minute deliveries, UPS reduced its fourth quarter earnings guidance.

In its new Ohio distribution center, sports apparel distributor Fanatics has created a state-of-the-art e-fulfillment center.

Fanatics distribution center was built to minimize storage and maximize picking across more than 500,000 SKUs.