You’ve just launched a new product, you’re having your seasonal promotion, or for an unseen reason, you see an influx in demand. Whatever the reason, you need capacity - and you need it fast. 

In today’s world, consumers expect a wide variety of selection when they walk into a big-box retail store. They want to see their favorite brands and they expect them to be in stock any time they walk through the doors. As a result, brands have had to adapt their supply chains to meet these increasing demands. 

With e-commerce sales expected to top $4 trillion by 2021 brands and 3PLs (third-party logistics providers) have steep customer expectations to meet.

Retailers live in a world of high demands and customer expectations. In order for brands to stay relevant in the market place, they need to constantly evolve and adapt to the challenges they face. The e-commerce boom and rise of the “digital generation present its own set of unique challenges. Here are the top challenges retailers face.   

Running a business can feel like far more than a full-time job. Not only do you have to provide your customers with appealing and useful products, but you also must purchase, market, and deliver them, all while providing excellent customer service, performing daily operations, and working to grow your business.

The 2018 holiday season was one for the record books. According to Mastercard Spending Pulse, brick-and-mortar spending increased 5% over 2017 reaching $850 billion in sales. Online shopping grew 19.1 percent over 2017 with Adobe Analytics reporting that US shoppers spent a whopping $110.5 billion between November 1 and December 19.

The 2018 holiday ecommerce peak is expected to be a big one. Holiday ecommerce sales this year (in November and December) are expected to rise 14.8% over last year to reach $124.1 billion, according to a forecast from Adobe. Nearly one dollar of every six spent on retail purchases will take place online this year.

The demand for lightning-quick fulfillment, coupled with a myriad of small-order additions, has led to a complex operating environment. Shipping issues are the second-most widely reported reason for consumer dissatisfaction when shopping online—caused primarily by lost packages and/or late deliveries.

Any one of the various moving supply chain parts can be responsible for shipping delays. For instance, inventory discrepancies at warehouses might be the reason for a slow shipment. If a consumer places an online order for an item that actually isn't in stock (despite what the website says), the warehouse cannot fulfill the order in a timely manner.

By following a few basic warehouse inventory management best practices, you can streamline your order fulfillment process to successfully meet your key performance indicators (KPIs).

Distribution center managers often feel like they're caught between two inevitable forces: rising demand for fast, accurate order fulfillment, and a shrinking labor pool that makes it harder to find employees to do the work.

As any distribution center manager can attest, finding, keeping, and getting the most from your workers can be a serious challenge. Here are four labor management strategies to help you improve your labor costs.

Better supervision, streamlined workflows, and reduced costs are just a few of the benefits of yard management systems.

It’s no surprise that technology far surpasses the effectiveness of clipboards and paper logbooks when it comes to running a yard. But just how necessary are yard management systems (YMS) to an efficient supply chain in today’s market?