With online holiday shopping in full swing the issue of ‘package optimization’ becomes a hot topic. It’s of particular concern for those companies who are unfortunately facing order returns, damaged goods and worse, dissatisfied customers. “Packaging strategies”, according to UPS vice president of Customer Solutions, Scott Mc Carley, “can have a pretty dramatic impact on […]
By Jim Pettinger Your valuable air parcel is picked up by UPS in Bellingham at about 4:00 PM (PT). Less than 24 hours later it is hand-delivered to your customer in Miami or London or Singapore. What happens in between? You would be amazed. We recently visited Louisville KY to tour UPS Worldport, the largest […]
Who Are Specialized 3PL (Third Party Logistics) Partners? First, what does 3PL mean? 3PL stands for third party logistics and is a company that provides B2C (business to consumer) and/or B2B (business to business) inbound/outbound product handling, storage and freight forwarding services. For example a 3PL partner can receive overseas bulk orders, empty the shipping […]
Doing Business in the U.S.A. Successful international business expansion to the United States hinges on thoughtful, well informed pre-planning and reliable cross-border partnerships. Domestic and foreign accountants, immigration and business lawyers, customs brokers and logistics (marketing, warehousing, order fulfillment and distribution) specialists all play key roles in a Canadian company’s export success into the U.S.A. […]
Logistics and Marketing More and more a company’s bottom line is impacted by its logistics; all those crucial steps between the inception of a great product/service and actually delivering it to the customer. Close consideration to process will optimize supply chain management and subsequently lower a business’ overall costs. “A well-researched and thoughtful logistics and […]
Could your company hire 95,000 part time workers within 90 days? by Jim Pettinger, President of UCanTrade, Inc. According to an article in USA Today, UPS will be hiring an additional 95,000 seasonal workers this holiday shopping season, and FedEx will add 50,000. In addition, major retailers such as Walmart, Target and Macy’s will also […]
There’s little doubt digital online buying – a.k.a. the ‘Amazon Effect’, is impacting traditional retailers, especially since Walmart has stepped up to the plate to compete with Amazon in this competitive e-commerce space. While consumers enjoy the benefits of their e-commerce ‘warfare’, another dynamic to the ‘Amazon Effect’ being brought into the forefront is truck […]
Evolving beyond ‘multi-channel retailing’, omnichannel is all about creating ‘a seamless consumer experience’ and is being called ‘the future of retail’. A recent survey from the Harvard Business Review states omnichannel consumers are “shoppers who engage with retailers across multiple touchpoints” adding “[they] are driving boosts in conversion rates both online and offline” making them one […]
U.S. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday mark the official beginning of America’s holiday shopping season and with it comes what we in supply chain management refer to as reverse logistics – better known as returns! Based on data from the U.S. Commerce Department, online sales represent 11% of 2016 retail sales and are expected […]