Wow! This was the headline caption on the presentation I was about to see. I had just joined the company. I had just spent the last few years in Retail. I had done a lot of research on how to improve efficiencies and productivity in Online/E-Commerce Fulfillment Distribution Centres. And I had lived through the agonizing process and resource challenges of fulfilling E-Commerce orders during the Holiday season, which is far and away the busiest time of the year in Retail.
Amazon is far and away the leader in the E-C0mmerce space. Their growth continues at an exceptional pace. And they continue to expand their products, services, and capabilities. In short they continue to press their advantage and make it difficult for anyone else to compete with them. You need a Blue Ocean strategy!
But if you are in the E-Commerce space that is your reality. Amazon is the biggest shark in the room. So how do you compete in the face of such an overwhelming adversary?
One technique is to consider creating your own Blue Ocean Strategy to create competitive advantage! If you can define dramatically different space in which to do business you may be able to keep this shark, and others, at bay (at least for a period of time).
Orange juice is the most popular fruit juice in the world, and one of the most popular of all drinks globally. Depending on the country you live in you may consume on average several gallons of Orange juice annually.
When you go into a grocery store or supermarket you are likely to see a large pile of oranges. And when you walk down the aisle to where the juices are you will see a large variety of brands and types of juice … with lots of pulp, some pulp, no pulp, low acid, with calcium and vitamin D, and on and on.
While Oranges and juice are common and usually easily found it is still curious as to what the Supply Chain is. What exactly is the Orange juice Supply Chain and how does it work?
Crowdfunding has given entrepreneurs and inventors greater access to startup capital. You might not be able to get seed money or Series A funding from a venture capital firm for your idea, but backers on Kickstarter or Indiegogo could give you just the leg up that you need.
Crowdfunding marketing is a strategy to raise funds for a project by asking a large number of people to donate money, usually in small amounts to fulfill the financial goals of the project. Crowdfunding, on the other hand, gives you a quick place to showcase and share your pitch with a bigger audience.
In the last decade, the growing adoption of ecommerce has been swift–and ruthless. Huge retail market players like Best Buy and Toys R’ Us are shutting down huge chunks of their physical locations due to plummeting revenue and poor customer experience.
Not only is this a result of not embracing ecommerce early in its wave, they are also now competing with ecommerce giants like Amazon and Alibaba who sell the same or competing products online.
Traffic drought in physical stores could be attributed to the rising number of purchases made over the internet for certain customer and product segments. For some, the revenue drop is significant. And yet another part of the challenge big box retailers face as publicly traded companies is that they have to answer to their investors–and with ecommerce delivering superior results, the patience afforded to big box retailers is just not as generous.
Retailers with Brick and Mortar stores continue to be under tremendous pressure. Competition is intense in the fast growing Omnichannel E-Commerce world. Every week there seems to be news about how one Retailer or another is closing more of their stores when they could be using them as Distribution hubs.
And very few Retailers with Brick And Mortar stores have been able to make a profit in E-Commerce. Competitors who only sell online without physical stores appear to have an advantage with lower overhead costs.
So how can Brick And Mortar Retailers turn their stores into a competitive advantage plus a source of greater profitability?
As supply chains evolve and grow, products are often passed between dozens of hands at factories, shipping vehicles and pallets, distributor warehouses, retail warehouses, shop floors, and delivery fleets. They often travel thousands of miles to go direct to consumer.
And they go through multiple intermediaries, something which has an impact not only on the profit margins, but also on the brand’s ability to connect and communicate with their customer.
With revenue growth remaining a challenge, almost half (48 per cent) of manufacturers are racing to build Direct to Consumer (DTC) channels, with almost all of them (87 per cent) seeing these channels as relevant to their products and consumers.
It doesn’t take a genius to see that the retail industry has changed over the past decade and a half. The arrival of Amazon and other eCommerce platforms on the scene has caused a sea change in the way people shop. Is the Retail industry melting down?
Retailers have increasingly been forced to sink or swim based not on marketing or product differentiation – as in the past – but on the success of their Supply Chains and eCommerce operations.
It’s kind of a wild west, and the most successful players being those who can harness Omnichannel distribution, and avoid excess inventory that will leave them in the dust.
Every stage of the logistics process of delivering goods is crucial from the time a parcel leaves the hands of the Sender up to the moment it arrives at its destination. This is called last mile delivery.
While each step of the way should be taken seriously, there is no point more high-priority than that of the last mile delivery stage, where the goods from a transportation hub move to their final delivery destination.
The goal of last mile delivery is to transport an item to its recipient in the quickest way possible. This has been driven by the continuously evolving market and demand for convenient customer experience across industries such as e-commerce, food, retail and many more.
Amazon has set the benchmark for Last Mile Delivery. With massive Distribution Centres within a short distance of every major population centre they are able to offer fast delivery of virtually any product they sell. The Amazon Prime Now service promises delivery within 1 hour.
Amazon Fresh is their grocery delivery option and with their Whole Foods acquisition they are obviously planning for rapid delivery. Amazon Go is their Retail store option. Amazon Key is their in home delivery service. And the Amazon promise of drone delivery will further cement their leadership in the Last Mile Delivery race.
So how do you compete with that? What are your options? And what is your Strategy?
The logistics industry is worth over $8.1 trillion. Not only it is an incomprehensibly big market, there are countless factors shaping it.
Globalization introduced a new level of complexity. International shipping has become a norm and customer expectations are higher than ever: we want our shipments on time, delivered as soon as possible and for this complex service we are willing to pay less and less.
In order to meet these high expectations and keep their customers satisfied, logistics service providers have to reach a never-before-seen level of efficiency.
Logistics is only seldom mentioned when we talk about innovation: industries like IT, telecommunications and automotive are the ones that first come to mind. Yet logistics, which represents an enormous opportunity given its size and its potential growth, has undergone a major transformation as well and the process is not close to an end.
The following infographic shows us how two multi-billion dollar companies, Uber and Amazon are revolutionizing the industry. Will a taxi app and an online retailer be the ones setting the new standards?
Amazon and Uber are the two giants in the industry. And the E-Commerce marketplace requires companies to provide a fast, free (or inexpensive to the customer), and reliable last mile delivery solution. This tremendous article provides a great characterization of Amazon and Uber in the Last Mile marketplace.
Amazon and Uber article and permission to publish here provided by Sam White at Argentus. Created by trademachines.com. Originally published on Supply Chain Game Changer on December 6, 2017.
With the increase in the popularity of e-shops and delivery companies, the e-commerce logistics business keeps growing. It faces more and more challenges, as customers need companies to be quick and increase their logistics performance more than ever before.
What does it mean for your business? This article explains why understanding and following the key trends in logistics e-commerce are crucial for organizations that want to save their place in the supply chain and get better results with less effort.
At the basis of every website, including any ecommerce website, is a content management system (CMS). There are a few very popular CMSs, targeting owners of ecommerce websites in particular.
To thrive as a successful eCommerce business, you need to manage your supply chain effectively. In practice, this accurately monitors stock levels and ensures the smooth transfer of products and supplies. Combined, these factors keep customers coming back and generate revenue for your company.
Understanding the unique demands of an eCommerce supply chain can be complex. We’ve outlined a few things you should know about managing one effectively in our quick guide below.
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