Retail Supply Chain

In this podcast, Jeff Berman, Group News Editor for Logistics Management and the Peerless Media Supply Chain Group, interviews Jonathan Gold, Vice President for Supply Chain and Customs Policy, for the National Retail Federation (NRF).

Commerce reported that November retail sales—at $546.5 billion—were down 1.1% compared to October and were up 4.1% annually, and NRF's data showed that showed that November was off 0.3% on a seasonally-adjusted basis compared to November, while increasing 8.8% on an unadjusted basis annually.

The National Retail Federation is calling for an expected 3.6%-to-5.2% annual gain, to between $755.3 billion and $766.7 billion in total sales. In 2019, total U.S. holiday retail sales saw a 4% annual gain, to $729.1 billion, with holiday sales seeing an average annual gain of 3.5% over the last five years.

As the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has had the effect of uprooting supply chain and logistics operations for shippers across various verticals, Minneapolis, Minn.-based global logistics services provider and freight forwarder C.H. Robinson today highlighted how it has focused on one segment that literally applies to everyone—the grocery sector.

Commerce reported that total September retail sales—at $549.3 billion—were up 1.9% over August and were up 5.4% annually. And NRF pointed to September retail sales, which were paced by apparel, continuing a V-shaped recovery from the pandemic, with sales growing for the fourth consecutive month.

With the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic continuing to change myriad aspects of everyday life, holiday season shopping is clearly not an exception, according to the 2020 U.S. Retail Holiday Trends Guide, which was issued this week by Los Angeles-based industrial real estate firm CBRE. The wide-ranging report addresses various ways in which the 2020 holiday shopping season will be different from any other.

It is fair to say that the COVID-19 pandemic has had a jarring impact on retail supply chains in myriad ways, in terms of how retailers had to respond and react to a new way of handling their supply chain operations. That was made clear in the findings of a recent study published by Blue Yonder (formerly JDA), a provider of AI-driven and end-to-end supply chain management services, and WMG, an academic department at the University of Warwick, England that...

While still at very low levels, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, May volumes at United States-based retail container ports saw some signs of easing, according to the new edition of the Port Tracker report, which was issued today by the National Retail Federation (NRF) and maritime consultancy Hackett Associates.

Logistics Management’s Jeff Berman recently caught up with Jonathan Gold, NRF Vice President, Supply Chain and Customs Policy, about the Port Tracker Report and related retail supply chain developments.

Commerce reported that March retail sales—at $483.1 billion—were down 8.7% compared to February, which represents the single largest annual monthly retail sales decline going back to when this data was first tracked by Commerce in 1992.

Sure, we all know that restaurants and casinos are closing up shop, but yesterday, I had my first corona-related logistics experience.

C.H. Robinson officials said that with Prime now officially in the fold—and set to be integrated into the company’s North American Surface Transportation division—this acquisition will expand its retail consolidation business while also providing more scale, capabilities, and expertise to its service portfolio. And they added that this acquisition is expected to be slightly accretive to earnings in 2020.

It’s no secret that e-commerce has changed the landscape of B2C retail- but the ripple effect this evolution has wrought on supply chains, including those of B2B shippers, may be less apparent.

The current state of the logistics and freight transportation sectors have shown us, in recent years, when it comes to the myriad things shippers need to do, in order to adapt, survive, and thrive, there is no shortage of tasks that are needed to stay on top of things.

With an eye on helping shippers meet delivery requirements set forth by retailers, non asset-based third-party logistics services provider Transplace said this week it has rolled out a new offering, entitled the “Weekly Supplier Performance Benchmarking Report.”