It doesn’t matter if the cost of supply is at an all-time high or fluctuating wildly, the impact of excess inventory and inefficient operations can be crippling to cash flow. While it is obvious that inventory costs money, most companies are not aggressively seeking to exert control and carry fewer overall gallons. The same holds […]
During the second half of 2014, Clint Reiser and I worked on an extensive survey examining the omni-channel commerce landscape. One of the key findings from that research was on the growth of e-commerce. According to our research, the lion’s share of revenue is still driven by the store. Brick and mortar locations accounted for […]
Another week, another winter storm in the Northeast. It is a seemingly endless onslaught of snow, with another potential blizzard on the horizon. Last week I wrote about e-commerce grinding to a halt with the back-to-back storms, and Clint Reiser wrote about the weather’s impact on the supply chain (and his pursuit of a roof […]
When I heard this saying, I thought it so profoundly related to one of the core challenges to supply chain excellence, an inflexible mindset. Too often in supply chain management we are bounded by our approach to supply chain problems, not the problems themselves. For example, one of the greatest challenges in supply chain management […]
Earlier this year, my colleague Ralph Rio wrote an insightful and very popular article about Amazon’s interest in drones for home delivery. Amazon is continuing to push forward with their drone research and testing. One major obstacle, however, is rules that are in place by the Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). In a letter to the […]
Thanksgiving is just a week away, which means the countdown is on for Black Friday (and pre-Black Friday deals). Just how big will this year’s turnout be? The National Retail Federation (NRF) expects 140 million holiday shoppers to take advantage of Thanksgiving weekend deals in stores and online. To put that in perspective, that represents […]
There has been a lot of talk lately as it relates to “last mile” deliveries, and how retailers can delight their customers at the actual moment of fulfillment. As more retailers venture into the omni-channel space, last mile has taken on more importance. Two behemoths have taken center stage in the battle for perfecting (or […]