Modern Shipper

Despite losing momentum late, holiday sales surprise to the upside

This is an excerpt from Thursday’s Point of Sale retail supply chain newsletter.

Despite retail sales declining sequentially each of the last three months of the year, the 2020 holiday shopping season was one for the record books. Retail sales during 2020’s November-December holiday season grew an unexpectedly high 8.3% over the same period in 2019. The 8.3% increase was more than double the 3.5% average holiday increase over the previous five years, including 2019’s 4% gain. 

(Chart: National...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/despite-losing-momentum-late-holiday-sales-surprise-to-the-upside

Payments technology firm PPRO raises $180M to reach unicorn status

The explosion of e-commerce and online buying has fueled a tsunami of issues for global companies that must ensure payments can be seamless and in the form and manner each locale prefers. That has fueled a push by payment providers to create more customized solutions.

PPRO’s technology is underpinning many of these solutions and investors are flocking to the company. The London-based startup has announced a $180 million investment round, which comes just six months after a $50 million round.

Sprin...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/payments-technology-firm-ppro-raises-180m-to-reach-unicorn-status

FAA gives approval for drone operation outside operator’s line of sight

The Federal Aviation Administration has given final approval to a Massachusetts based company to conduct autonomous commercial drone flights.

In a press release Friday night, American Robotics Inc., based in Marlborough, Massachusetts, said it has been approved for operation for its Scout System drones, including for operation “beyond-visual-line-of-sight” (BVLOS) of the operator.

“With these approvals, American Robotics is ushering in a new era of widespread automated drone operations,” said...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/faa-gives-approval-for-drone-operation-outside-operators-line-of-sight

Tiny electric delivery vans occupy former home of hulking Hummer H2

The tale of Electric Last Mile Systems (ELMS) brims with irony. 

The startup’s Class 1 battery-powered delivery vans will be assembled in the plant where the hulking Hummer H2 SUV came off the line from 2003 to 2009.

Jim Taylor, the same executive who ran Hummer at General Motors (NYSE: GM), led talks to sell the brand to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery as GM teetered on the edge of an eventual bankruptcy reorganization in 2009. The deal fell apart in February 2010 and GM mothballed...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/tiny-electric-delivery-vans-occupy-former-home-of-hulking-hummer-h2

Online retailers pay almost double in logistics costs

This is an excerpt from Thursday’s Point of Sale retail supply chain newsletter.

(Chart: Gartner)

Retailers with more than 50% of revenue from the online channel have logistics costs as a percentage of sales that are almost double those of their store-focused counterparts, according to Gartner. 

2020 was a year spent primarily expanding online fulfillment capabilities, but now retail supply chain leaders are now looking for opportunities to control, contain and, where possible, reduce their...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/online-retailers-pay-almost-double-in-logistics-costs

Retailers turned to scanning technology to meet ecommerce explosion

Shipt worker fulfills an online order

As retailers faced the unprecedented challenges of 2020, some were able to quickly pivot from brick-and-mortar operations to e-commerce thanks to the use of technology that in some cases, store associates already used.

The ubiquitous smartphone proved to be a business-saving device for some, allowing their operations to quickly and accurately fulfill e-commerce and in-store pickup orders.

“It was really around scaling up in-store picking where suddenly order volumes doubled, tripled and basket...

https://www.freightwaves.com/news/retailers-turned-to-scanning-technology-to-meet-the-ecommerce-explosion

Global e-commerce sales jump 24% in December

ecommerce sales jump in December

More global consumers shopped online this holiday season than ever before. According to data collected by payments firm ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIQ), e-commerce transactions jumped 24% in December 2020 compared to 2019.

Merchants that offered customers the option to buy online and pick up in store (BOPIS) prior to the pandemic particularly benefited, with a 70% increase in volume and 58% increase in value compared to 2019.

“In 2020, we saw the pandemic drive the highest number of merchants...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/global-e-commerce-sales-jump-24-in-december

Walmart to test temperature-controlled box for grocery home delivery

Walmart to test HomeValet grocery delivery box

According to Karen Bomber, Honeywell’s head of retail insights, the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting stay-at-home orders across the country caused a spike in online grocery ordering in 2020. Bomber, speaking during the National Retail Federation’s Chapter One conference on Tuesday, said online grocery orders jumped from 4% of sales in 2019 to 30% in 2020.

It is a trend she doesn’t see diminishing moving forward, and while many of those orders are in-store pickups, a good portion remains home...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/walmart-to-test-temperature-controlled-box-for-grocery-home-delivery

Creating the digital glue that connects in-store, online experiences

supply chain changes due to covid

In 2019, 4% of grocery sales were online. In 2020, that spiked to 30%, according to Karen Bomber, Honeywell’s head of retail insights. COVID changed that and so much more for the retail supply chain in 2020, with some of the changes likely becoming permanent, Bomber and Miya Knights, head of industry insight atSaaS technology company Eagle Eye, told the audience during a virtual session Tuesday as part of the National Retail Federation’s Chapter One conference.

Noting that she was one of those...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/creating-the-digital-glue-that-connects-in-store-online-experiences

Amware sees opportunity in Moulton Logistics acquisition

As Americans hunkered down at home and repeatedly hit the “buy” button on their computers and phones, the need for warehouse space heated up. Online buying has continued into 2021 and looks to no longer be a gradual upward trend that was altering retail but rather a rocket ship that has quickly and dramatically changed shopping forever.

You can thank COVID-19 for that.

“The difference between 2021 and 2020 is the surprise factor,” Harry Drajpuch, CEO of Amware Fulfillment, told FreightWaves. “On...

https://s29755.pcdn.co/news/amware-sees-opportunity-in-moulton-logistics-acquisition

+ More