Do you keep an eye on what’s happening in the news regarding e-commerce and logistics? If you don’t, don’t worry, we’ve gathered the top articles we over here at ShipCaddie TWMS have been paying attention to from the last few weeks. Read on for a link to each article and our take on it!
UPS to Deploy RFIDs Through 100 Facilities This Year
The UPS is trying to find ways to accelerate the amount of data they gather through various initiatives, including attaching RFIDs to packages they process. This will allow them to eliminate 20 million manual scans daily for UPS employees, saving them lots of time and money. This initiative is something we at ShipCaddie think will continue to be embraced by carriers. Also check out this article about UPS expanding its partnership with Google Cloud as they anticipate an influx of data--it seems to us that data will exponentially increase in importance for carriers and shippers alike.
Shopify Is in Talks to Buy Tech Start-up Deliverr
Shopify has struggled to build out its own fulfillment network for a while now and they seem to be looking to acquiring Deliverr to solve some of their problems. Deliverr has a network of fulfillment centers it partners with throughout the U.S. and this article reinforces the fact that more and more acquisitions and mergers will be seen in the fulfillment and retail space (for reference just check out this article about what has happened since American Eagle purchased Quiet Logistics).
Buy With Prime Pushes Amazon Further Into Checkout Solutions for Sellers
Amazon recently announced increased fees for 3rd party sellers due to the rising rate of inflation and the costs of maintaining their huge FBA fulfillment network (you can read about it here). Amazon takes in a huge amount from fees placed on 3rd party sellers who use their marketplace, and with their launch of ‘Buy With Prime’ being available in beta for some independent websites, it seems that they are trying to drive as much traffic as possible to their FBA services. Additionally, they have recently been hit with $6B in costs as they grapple with the expense of excess laborers hired during the height of the pandemic and inefficient warehouse operations (you can read about this here). To us this points to the importance of not blindly building out a fulfillment network that is as big as possible, but rather finding strategic locations to place your products (you can hit most of the United States on a ground service in two days with just two well-placed distribution centers) so you can avoid excess costs. If building out your own fulfillment network isn’t in the works for you just yet, it would be a great idea to investigate all the options to find a partner that can help you achieve your best shipping and delivery experience.
Is there anything we missed that has caught your attention lately? Leave a comment below!
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