Insight into retail operations looking at innovative technology solutions, retail systems, logistics and fulfilment, payment solutions and more.
The importance to fast-fashion retailers of ensuring delivery and collection options meet the needs of their customers is underlined by announcements from Boohoo.com, Missguided and Amazon.com in the US this week. Both Boohoo.com and Missguided have put in place new options to improve their service. And doing so is arguably (more…)
A new Amazon development centre set to open in Cambridge in the autumn will house scientists with expertise in areas from machine learning to data, speech and software. Teams working on devices such as Kindle, Fire tablet, Fire TV Stick, Echo, Echo Dot and the new Echo Look, as well (more…)
MediaMarkt is deploying innovative light-based technology in its flagship store in the centre of Eindhoven to guide smartphone-wielding shoppers to the groceries they need. The retailer has introduced a Store Guide smartphone app, developed by novomind, to its new-look store in the Dutch city. That app works with an LED (more…)
Holland & Barrett has completed its roll out of technology designed to improve the customer shopping experience. The health and wellbeing specialist, a Leading retailer in IRUK Top500 research, now has Lexmark’s Publishing Platform for Retail in all its UK and Ireland stores. The system draws on stock availability to (more…)
Next-day delivery remains the favoured option for more than half (52%) of UK shoppers, but nearly one in five UK multichannel retailers does not offer it, according to new research. A study by Ampersand analysed the delivery promises of 185 leading UK retailers and found that 18% do not offer (more…)
Terry Murphy, director of the John Lewis National Distribution Centre (NDC), described the retailer’s approach to Black Friday at IRX 2017. Here are his key points. The changing shape of Black Friday, and peak trading Black Friday became an event for John Lewis, an Elite retailer in IRUK Top500 research, (more…)
Nottinghamshire market town Mansfield has become the first centre to upgrade to Rewarding Visits technology, which will see its shopping areas transformed into ‘digital high streets’.
European retailer Otto is using machine learning to ensure it and its partner retailers hold the level of stock that it predicts its customers will want to buy. Otto , a Leading retailer in IREU Top500 research, sells more than 2.2m items from 6,000 brands via otto.de. These include products (more…)
Tesco shoppers who order before 9am can now pick up their groceries from midday onwards. This extends an existing service that sees customers order by 1pm for pick up from 4pm, and will be available from more than 300 sites across the UK, Monday to Saturday. The move comes as (more…)
John Lewis is adopting new technology to manage its supply chain for omnichannel retailing. The retailer, an Elite trader in IRUK Top500 research, is to develop a direct supplier channel built on Virtualstock’s The Edge Platform. The system will connect suppliers directly with central John Lewis systems, enabling real-time inventory (more…)
Almost a third of all online orders placed with UK retailers in January were for international delivery, new figures suggest. The IMRG MetaPack UK Delivery Index for January found that while online retail orders rose by 11.3% in January, 32% of all orders were heading out of the UK. Of (more…)
Amazon , the UK’s largest online retailer, says it will take on 5,000 new staff as it expands in areas from its development centres and fashion photography studio through to its fulfillment centres. By the end of the year it expects to employ more than 24,000 people across the UK, (more…)
Schuh is using ‘pay on delivery’ technology to make it easier for shoppers paying using their mobile phone. When customers at Schuh, a Leading retailer in IRUK Top500 research, check out online, they will now be able to use Klarna technology to opt to pay on delivery. That means they (more…)
News of an interesting new delivery solution comes to us from the online takeaway sector, from hungryhouse. It’s an interesting solution that could have applications for retailers beyond the online sector. Hungryhouse has teamed up with a third-party fleet to offer extra capacity to its takeaway customers. When restaurants need (more…)
There’s mounting evidence that the popularity of click and collect grew strongly in the run-up to Christmas. John Lewis has said that 52% of online orders were picked up via click and collect this Christmas, with use of the delivery method up by 14.5% compared to last year. Some 18.5% (more…)
Retail logistics professionals from brands as diverse as Harrods and Sainsbury’s will be sharing insights and experiences in the Final Mile conference at this year’s InternetRetailing Expo (IRX 2017) and eDelivery Expo (EDX 2017). Speakers taking part in the conference, which runs on April 5 in theatre 4 at the (more…)
Returns of unwanted Christmas gifts will peak today, the Royal Mail has predicted. The delivery company has dubbed the day ‘Take-back Tuesday’ and forecasts, based on analysis of its own data, that the number of returns posted today will be 50% higher today than on an average day in December. (more…)
The sheer speed and convenience of Amazon UK’s delivery and collections service enables it to compete with large multichannel retailers despite having no shops of its own in the UK. Amazon is working to an agenda set by the ever-more demanding customer, Katie McQuaid, director of Fufilment by Amazon, told (more…)
Amazon has this month made its first delivery by drone – in the UK, its chief executive Jeff Bezos has said. Bezos today tweeted the news that the delivery had taken just 13 minutes from click to the parcel arriving. The flight took place on December 7 in the Cambridge (more…)
Ensuring that Christmas orders get to their destination is a perennial peak challenge for retailers and their delivery partners. Naming final order dates is a balance between being certain that deliveries will arrive in time, and not cutting off potential orders too early through caution. In years gone by, retailers (more…)