big-box retailers
Transactions become smooth like butter
The Stockout show highlights CPG and retail industry trends
On Monday, Grace Sharkey and I went through the year’s biggest trends in the CPG and retail industries, as we saw them. The full show can be seen here and back episodes can be seen here.
Retailers focus on convenience, speed and value
For retailers, the largest trends are related to removing barriers to purchases and making transactions “frictionless.” Examples include Walmart’s phone-based Scan and Go checkouts and Target’s ability to...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/transactions-become-smooth-like-butter
Will FOMO and YOLO lead to No Mo’?
Get updates on supply chain challenges and developments within the Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) and retail industries. Sign up here, we’d love to have you.
Retail data paints mixed picture on consumer health
Economic bulls point not only to the still-strong job market but also the latest retail sales data, which show increases from last year. Mastercard SpendingPulse reports that Black Friday sales increased 2.5% from a year earlier, broken down to a 1% increase in-store and an impressive 8%...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/will-fomo-and-yolo-lead-to-no-mo
Happy Thanksgiving and go Lions!
Anyone motivated enough to read a FreightWaves newsletter the day before Thanksgiving is probably stuck at a very crowded airport, and would rather read about something more lighthearted than the situation in the Middle East, so I’ll start by saying safe travels, Happy Thanksgiving and go Lions! By now, you should know that the Detroit Lions play every Thanksgiving and are currently in first place in the NFC North. Maybe the last shall become first after all. If you have ever felt the urge to...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/happy-thanksgiving-and-go-lions
The Stockout: Retailers aim for convenience over cattle call
Retailers focus on shopper convenience
What struck me from the Walmart and Target investor presentations in the past week was the focus on frictionless shopping trips. Target is expanding its capability to process drive-through returns (available by the end of the summer) and combine those drive-through trips with other transactions. The idea is that the customers can, for instance, both return an item and pick up milk from a pickup window at the same time while their children sleep in the back...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/the-stockout-retailers-aim-for-convenience-over-cattle-call
Fulfillment worthy of 5 stars — Point of Sale
E-commerce penetration accelerated greatly due to the coronavirus and now retailers are having to balance these new consumer expectations with long-term profitability. There are a few major fulfillment methods being implemented across the retail sector, but which is the best and will win out in the long run?
Andrew Cox found out in this episode of Point of Sale. He welcomed Rick Watson, founder and CEO of RMW Commerce Consulting, to talk about how he consults retailers on e-commerce operations.
W...
https://www.freightwaves.com/news/fulfillment-worthy-of-5-stars-point-of-sale
Ox set to grow after landing $3.5M seed round
Ox, an order fulfillment platform that leverages augmented reality (AR) to speed order picking, has landed a $3.5 million seed round of funding, led by MaC Venture Capital and Cortado Ventures. Additional participation came from Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund (which is an investor in FreightWaves), Vuzix, Florida Funders, KCRise Fund and Willow Growth Partners.
“I realized that in order to keep up with the massive and ever-growing retail market, traditional supply chains needed help...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/ox-set-to-grow-after-landing-3-5m-seed-round
The Daily Dash: C.R. England strikes back; XPO bullish on 2021
The Daily Dash is a quick look at what is happening in the freight ecosystem. In today’s edition, C.R. England, one of the carriers targeted in a staged-accident scheme, is suing the law firm involved. Plus, XPO thinks 2021 is only going to get better, and Forward Air makes an acquisition and a divestiture.
C.R. England fighting backTruckload carrier C.R. England, the company that court records suggest paid out the greatest amount of money in the Louisiana staged-accident scandal, is fighting...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/the-daily-dash:-cr-england-strikes-back;-xpo-bullish-on-2021
Port of LA records 11 straight months of declines
July was good — 24% better than June — at the Port of Los Angeles, but volume was still down 6.11% year-over-year.
The Port of LA moved 856,389 twenty-foot equivalent units in July compared to 912,154 TEUs in the same month in 2019. That brought the port’s seven-month total to 4,618,278 TEUs, down 15.3% from the 5,450,793 TEUs recorded between Jan. 1 and July 31, 2019.
“The July volumes were good — seventh-best month in our 114-year history here at the Port of Los Angeles,” said Executive...
https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/port-of-la-records-11-straight-months-of-declines