GUEST BLOG: How Retailers Can Create a Customer-First Return Experience
This holiday season was one for the record books. Even with retailers expanding their deep discount windows (some starting as early as October), traditional holiday retail sales (Nov 1- Dec 24) grew 7.6% year over year. And with that boost in sales, comes the inevitable next step—holiday returns. According to NRF, consumers are expected to […]
More than Pick, Pack, Ship
Walk through one of our fulfillment centers and you’ll see a clean facility with orders flowing in on monitors, team members working QC stations, robots maneuvering from one shelf to another and conveyors shuffling boxes down the line to awaiting trucks. What you WON’T see is how much effort is going into not only fulfilling orders but […]
How To Sell More With Instant Inserts
How a CEO’s Wife’s Shopping Habits Became a Fulfillment Company
A delivery here, a delivery there. It was becoming a daily routine to step over the boxes being delivered to my front porch. With an active family, a wife, 2 daughters and a few dogs, there’s always a “need” for something — new shoes for school, dance attire, a new dog bed for Daisey or […]
The Holidays Look Bright – And, So Do Subscription Trends.
While most are looking forward to the holiday season on a personal level, many professionals in consumer brands are working feverishly on forecasting, inventory planning, and promotional and merchandising activities to maximize revenue for this critical season. The holidays often involve more effort and present more challenges for brands, but the opportunity to capture holiday […]
What Grade Will Your Fulfillment Partner Get This Peak Season?
Yep, it’s here. Not sure where the year went, but we are now officially in peak season — an imperative time for many brands and merchants to finish the year on a high note. Hopefully, it culminates in raising a glass to toast a successful year, not drowning sorrows. Some cheery news! This past year […]
Optimizing Fulfillment – Part 3: Perception is Reality
Our reliance on reviews proves perception is reality. We rely on someone else’s perception (perfect strangers no less) to shape our opinions and reality of a product and convince us to buy or not to buy. Unfortunately, the delivery experience gets rolled up into the brand identity. So how do you make sure the delivery […]
Optimizing Fulfillment – Part 2: Become a Master of Returns
It’s not only about what’s going out. It’s also about how you handle what might be coming back in. The average ecommerce returns rate lands around 30%…don’t let failed reverse logistics be your demise. Understand your customers’ expectations 79% of consumers want free shipping With shipping rates at an all-time high, you may need to […]
Optimizing Fulfillment – Part 1: Technology & Automation
Investing in warehouse technology is spending money to save money (and make money). But, doing so can be overwhelming if distribution and fulfillment aren’t your primary focus. Let’s look at ways fulfillment providers are keeping up with the speed of ecommerce. Less steps, less touches Automation in fulfillment isn’t meant to eliminate jobs, it’s to […]
Does Your Order Fulfillment Complement Your Omni-channel Strategy?
Now more than ever, brands, merchants and retailers are being forced to adapt to a world where customers buy their products from a variety of channels — online storefront, marketplaces and in-store — depending on their needs. One thing is for sure, the preference for online shopping continues to grow. Consumer online spending grew 14.2% […]