article thumbnail

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.

article thumbnail

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.

Insiders

Sign Up for our Newsletter

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

article thumbnail

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. .

article thumbnail

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

Retail TouchPoints

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? This means that when ecommerce retailers can’t provide the peace of mind that clear return shipping policies can offer, customers will take their money and run.

article thumbnail

NOT Your Dad’s Supply Chain: 4 Trends Every Retail Exec Should Know for 2024

Retail TouchPoints

These four emerging trends elevate the urgency for supply chain execs to move distributed order management (DOM) to the top of their lists. #1: The presence of kiosks linking buyers to the online store The ability to ship from other stores and warehouses Your store going dark completely, becoming a micro-distribution center (DC)?

Supplies 306
article thumbnail

6 Trends Driving Store Design Innovation in 2024

Retail TouchPoints

Retail TouchPoints asked experts across the store design, experience and technology realms to share the trends they believe will drive brick-and-mortar innovation. For example, they need to support omnichannel services like BOPIS, ship-from-store and seamless returns.

article thumbnail

Top 10 Contactless Trends to Watch in 2022

Retail TouchPoints

Buzek, who has studied and quantified retail technology for decades, shared the top 10 contactless trends to watch for in the coming months and years. More Dark Kitchens Over the next five years, QSR chain Wendy’s is planning to add 700 kitchens in converted shipping containers to support delivery.