It was an important year for delivery logistics trends. With ecommerce sales reaching $23 trillion in annual sales worldwide, customers are relying on better and faster deliveries for all sort of goods and services.
But this evolution in the supply chain, and for last mile fulfillment in particular, doesn’t end with retail. From restaurant chains to supermarkets to pharmacies to service providers, the world of logistics is experiencing unprecedented change. What are the delivery logistics trends?
The physical delivery part of the Omnichannel expectation can be very elusive. Many companies claim that they are Omnichannel service providers. But are they really?
How many E-Commerce Fulfillment options are there? And how many do you provide in your company?
It’s been 6 months since we launched supplychaingamechanger.com. Our goal has always been to share experiences and expertise. The site has evolved. The number of categories has continued to grow. And the response has been absolutely tremendous. We can now present our 2017 Top 10 Blog posts.
In that time Supply Chain Game Changer was also selected by Feedspot as one of the Top 75 Supply Chain Blogs on the Internet.
So we thought that this would be a good point at which to share a list of the 2017 Top 10 Blog posts that we have published so far. We would be remiss if we didn’t also thank the phenomenal Guest Bloggers who have given us such great content.
With the launch of Amazon’s Prime Membership back in 2005, the rules of the ecommerce order fulfillment game changed. Amazon Prime offered free two-day and cost-effective one-day/overnight delivery options; exclusive to their members.
Needless to say that retailers and ecommerce business owners are having a hard time keeping up with these demands. In fact, meeting customers’ demand for speedy deliveries is among the toughest challenges in the supply chain, as mentioned in MHI’s industry report.
The Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping extravaganza is almost upon us. While it may seem like a long time for functions such as Marketing or Sales, for your Supply Chain the Black Friday push should be on right now! Your focus must be on Black Friday readiness.
If you have products manufactured overseas for instance then if those products are not either on the ocean right now or en route over land to your Distribution Centres then you are already in trouble! Black Friday readiness is critical.
In Supply Chain that means we want and need full end to end visibility and transparency. To provide that end to end visibility requires electronic connectivity of all nodes of the Supply Chain.
And when it comes to providing that visibility and connectivity with respect to the movement of goods throughout the Supply Chain it means we all need a Transportation Management System (TMS).
But gone are the days when you needed to create your own TMS or even buy one. In this Digital Age you should be able to get this capability for free!
The box I was looking at in the Pick-To-Light (PTL) lane was full of at least 1-2 dozen different skus with as many as one to twenty of each sku in the box. It looked like the insides of a piñata in there. Although a piñata is used in celebrations I was quite sure that when the retail store opened the box they wouldn’t be celebrating.
All along the PTL conveyor every box looked like an explosion of different skus in different quantities. At every station an employee was following the lights and picking a different quantity of each sku from one set of boxes and putting them in the “piñata” box.
I knew that this was the way it had historically been done, and the company had just spent millions and millions of dollars automating this historic process, but from a Lean perspective the whole approach was wasteful, slow, and expensive.
Was it really necessary to touch every single piece of every single sku multiple times?
To many, the online shopping or eCommerce experience seems to have already been perfected by the all-devouring colossus that is Amazon. You get items the next day, they’re often cheaper than anywhere else, and if you ask nicely, you can get a refund without the need to return an item.
Their business practices aside, Amazon has successfully conquered this phase of eCommerce.
In e-commerce business staying ahead of the curve is paramount. With consumers’ expectations and behaviors constantly shifting, businesses must adapt their digital marketing strategies to remain competitive.
This comprehensive guide delves into cutting-edge strategic digital marketing techniques that can propel your e-commerce venture to new heights, fostering growth, engagement, and long-term success.
Experts at Creatives on Call can help you plan effective campaigns to increase organic growth.
There’s a reason we’re all hooked on games, whether it’s Candy Crush on a commute or a late-night round of CS2. Games pull us in, give us something to win, and reward us just enough to keep us coming back. So what happens when online shopping borrows a few tricks from that playbook?
A lot, actually.
Take platforms like HypeDrop. They’ve taken regular e-commerce, added a splash of unpredictability, and turned it into something way more exciting. It’s not your usual “add to cart” situation – users open digital “mystery boxes” to win everything from sneakers to gaming gear. That kind of model helped HypeDrop earn its title as the best mystery box website, and it’s giving traditional retailers a serious wake-up call.
Here’s why this new approach works – and what online sellers can actually learn from it.
People Want More Than a Transaction
The typical online shopping experience is functional. Search, click, pay. It gets the job done, but it’s kind of boring. Gamified platforms flip that script by giving shoppers an experience. Opening a box with a chance of scoring high-value items taps into the same psychology that makes people love loot boxes in games or raffle draws.
It’s not just about what you buy – it’s about how it feels to buy it.
Retailers don’t need to overhaul everything to replicate this. Adding small interactive elements like “spin to win” discounts, mini-games, or rewards for completing challenges can make a basic purchase feel more like a win.
Clear Reward Systems = Instant Trust
If there’s one thing e-commerce has struggled with lately, it’s transparency. Shipping delays, unclear returns, shady pricing tricks – customers are on high alert. One thing platforms like HypeDrop get right? They’re upfront. Users can see the odds of getting each item before opening a box, which builds trust.
Now, that’s not to say every store needs to publish odds like a casino. But clearer value communication makes a huge difference. Whether it’s loyalty programs, bundle deals, or even a basic discount – the value needs to be obvious and honest. People don’t mind risk. They mind feeling tricked.
Make It Social Or Risk Feeling Outdated
Here’s something a lot of brands miss: online shopping isn’t just a solo sport anymore. Platforms like HypeDrop build in social mechanics – users can “battle” each other, share wins, and even join communities around the boxes they open.
Compare that to the average online store, where the experience ends after checkout.
Think about what would happen if sellers added social reviews, live feeds of what others are buying, or community polls that influence upcoming deals. It wouldn’t just make shopping more fun – it’d make it feel current.
Use Data Like You Actually Mean It
Every click, search, or scroll tells you something. Gamified platforms are constantly collecting and acting on that data. If a user only opens boxes for streetwear, guess what starts showing up more? Exclusive drops for Yeezys and Off-White, not random toaster ovens.
Retailers have this power too, but many aren’t using it well. Personalization doesn’t have to be creepy or complicated. Just use customer behavior to recommend better products, time promotions right, or even send emails that aren’t copy-pasted nonsense. Basic stuff, but it’s wildly underused.
It’s 2025 – Static Shopping Feels Ancient
Let’s be real: attention spans are shrinking and expectations are rising. People want online experiences that are fast, fun, and a little unpredictable. That’s why TikTok shops are blowing up. That’s why interactive shopping on platforms like Amazon Live or even Instagram is catching fire.
If traditional retailers want to stay relevant, gamified shopping isn’t just a gimmick. It’s a sign of where things are heading.
Sure, not every business can afford to build a full-blown game layer on top of their store. But even small touches – rewards for engagement, transparent perks, or ways to involve the customer beyond a sale – can nudge an experience from forgettable to actually fun.
Rethink The Way You Sell
The lesson here isn’t that everyone should become a casino. It’s that people are craving something more than a transaction. They want engagement. Surprise. Maybe even a little dopamine spike.
Gamified platforms like HypeDrop aren’t just winning because they’re flashy. They’re winning because they treat users like players, not just buyers. And in 2025, that might be the smartest move a seller can make.
So if you’re running an online shop that still feels stuck in 2015, it might be time to take a cue from the best mystery box website out there – and start thinking about how to make your customers feel like they’ve scored more than just a receipt.
Article and permission to publish here provided by Istvan Liptak. Originally written for Supply Chain Game Changer and published onApril 29, 2025.
A third-party fulfillment partner is a company that stores, stocks, and ships goods on behalf of another company. The goods they handle and ship are not their own. However, they pay the workers who do the work and possess the technology, equipment, and warehousing space needed to handle these products.
Most E-commerce businesses are increasingly turning over all or almost all inventory control to third-party logistics (3PL) firms. This is due to the many benefits they come with.
In this digital age, one of the best ways to earn money is to sell unique products online with the help of an eCommerce platform, such as Amazon, Alibaba, etc. However, to have a profitable online selling business, it’s crucial to understand the importance of inventory management in eCommerce.
An effective inventory management system is one of the most crucial elements of running a sustainable eCommerce business. It helps businesses arrange their products systematically and ensure all products are released on time to increase fulfillment rate and promote positive customer satisfaction.
Many businesses begin with single-channel distribution. That sole channel could be a brick-and-mortar store or an e-commerce website. In either case, all sales flow through one outlet.
The advantage of a single-channel distribution management system is simplicity. There’s only one channel to manage, one channel to stock, and one channel to market to customers. As a business expands, however, the single-channel model can limit growth.
Supply chains are an intricate collection of processes. Issues in one portion of the chain will disrupt every downstream process. As a business owner, optimizing your supply chain for efficiency will reduce these issues and help you build strong customer and vendor relationships.
The capability we had in E-Commerce order fulfillment was rather basic. We had employees manually pushing carts up and down standard warehouse racking aisles picking goods off of shelves. And when they had completed an order or a set of orders they would then push the entire cart back to a centralized order packing station.
As a Supply Chain Services company we needed a dramatically better capability if we were wanted to have customers trust their growing E-Commerce business with us. Pushing carts around a warehouse is both inefficient and lacks innovation.
We had to go back to the drawing board. But in doing so we would end up with a World Class solution!
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