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Want to Cut the Cost of Fast Fulfillment? It All Starts with Inventory Placement

Retail TouchPoints

The problems with getting products to people quickly and cheaply are well-known: consumers want fast fulfillment, which is costly to provide, but they don’t want to pay high (or really any) shipping fees. Even Amazon , the trendsetter in fast fulfillment, isn’t immune to higher labor costs.

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Retailers Increasingly Turning to Third-Party Resources to Handle Fulfillment

Retail TouchPoints

Store-based fulfillment of customer orders got an enormous boost during the COVID pandemic, when both curbside pickup and delivery offerings became survival tactics for so many retailers. However, they are now being prized for their practical capabilities as well: 38% cited faster, more cost-effective shipping, up from 21% in 2022.

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Building Loyalty Without Breaking the Bottom Line: the Dual Shipping Dilemma for Ecommerce Merchants

Retail TouchPoints

While this is good news for many ecommerce retailers, it has also become more and more expensive to deliver those goods to customers. This presents a dual shipping dilemma for businesses: how can they keep shipping costs on the business low, while also offering customer-friendly return policies? of total retail sales.

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Product Substitution: How Savvy Retailers and Manufacturers can Build Supply Chain Resiliency, Reduce Costs and Improve Customer Experiences

Retail TouchPoints

Shipping delays and stockouts lead to frustration and disappointment, especially when logistical problems impact time-sensitive purchases, such as special occasion gifts, event tickets or prescription medications. Product substitution capabilities ensure they can respond to demand shifts, consumer trends and emerging technologies.

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Macy’s Creates Mini-DCs in 35 Stores to Optimize Online Fulfillment

Retail TouchPoints

While digital penetration is nowhere near the highs it reached during the pandemic, when online accounted for approximately 40% of sales, according to Macy’s CEO Jeff Gennette, ecommerce is continuing its pre-pandemic growth trend with digital penetration this year at 33% , up from 25% in 2019. .

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You Choose: Free Shipping vs. Lower Prices

ChannelAdvisor

Which would you rather choose: a $49 product with free shipping or the same product for $39 plus $10 shipping? Free shipping was once a fast-growing trend in e-commerce. The Psychology of Online Pricing. This is called the zero price effect , or the irrational urge to get free stuff. Source: Shippo, 2021.

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Harnessing the Potential of Returnless Refunds to Improve Profitability and Customer Experience

Retail TouchPoints

Returns are a major cost of doing retail business of any kind, but especially online. While some are charging customers fees to simultaneously slow and offset rising costs resulting from elevated return rates, others are adopting returnless refund policies.