Logistics

Online shopping has officially overtaken brick-and-mortar retail. Every year, the United Parcel Service (UPS) consults more than 5,000 online shoppers to track trends in retail. The results of the 2016 UPS survey showed an anticipated but historic change: Shoppers made 51 percent of their purchases online in 2016, the survey said. This is the first time in the long history of retail that online shopping eclipsed traditional brick-and-mortar purchases. Behind the scenes, this change is affecting virtually every aspect of the fulfillment process including the way products move from their point of origin to the consumer’s home. In order to understand the changes e-commerce has inflicted on the warehousing world, we’ve compiled a few of the biggest differences between traditional…more

If you’re involved with warehousing in any capacity, you’ve likely heard the term “international logistics.” It’s a fairly large and complex concept — in short, it encompasses the entire process of controlling the movement of goods as they travel from one country to another. International logistics includes a close consideration of every factor involved in the flow of products, people, and paperwork, starting from the acquisition of raw materials and ending with the product’s purchase. In a traditional framework, the flow of goods is as follows: raw materials are harvested, components are produced from the raw materials, the final product is produced, goods travel to wholesalers, wholesalers distribute the goods to retailers, and customers purchase and use the goods. Along…more

In order to survive, online retailers need to streamline the order picking and shipping processes. Efficiency is always an important factor — regardless of the size of the operation — and while the largest distribution centers may rely on automated goods-to-picker systems, this technology isn’t cost efficient for small to mid-sized stores. The Internet provides these smaller retailers with ample opportunities to compete, and with the recent rise of omni-channel logistics, many brick-and-mortar retailers are entering e-commerce for the first time. By shipping directly from their existing stores, omni-channel retailers can serve their customers more efficiently than centralized distribution centers. This approach can improve cash flow during down periods while allowing retailers to offer a more diverse set of products.…more

Even if you’re not ready to add to your current lift truck battery inventory, you should always be prepared to expand. Any facility may suddenly need to add shifts, hire new workers, and add new lift trucks to its fleet — especially given current growth trends in the warehousing industry. Demand for warehousing services is soaring as consumer spending increases in the wake of the U.S. financial recovery. The 26th Annual State of Logistics Report, published in June, reports that 2014 was the best year for supply chain industries since recovery from when the Great Recession began. Transportation grew by 3.6 percent last year, while the national vacancy rate of warehouses in the U.S. declined to a total of 7…more