Your customers want products to be available every day of the year. But when the holiday season arrives, their anxiety about having that perfect gift or deal — on time — puts enormous pressure on your brand.

Concerns about food waste and changing consumer preferences are posing new challenges — and opportunities — to the food supply chain. Increasingly, retailers are making their Thanksgiving supply chains more efficient, prioritizing sustainability, freshness, and satisfied customers without compromising profit.

For most of us, Thanksgiving is a time to reconnect with family and celebrate abundance. For big grocery chains, it means anxiously overseeing a network of suppliers and shippers as they move vital ingredients across the country (and around the world), all while working in tricky weather that demands solid logistical execution to avoid late — or spoiled — deliveries. Grocery retailers always risk losing precious inventory, but never is it more critical to receive the right foods at the right time than during Thanksgiving week. Instead of hoping that their pumped-up stocks of turkey and pumpkin pie arrive intact and on time, grocery chains avoid supply chain disaster by overstocking many of these key items and running tried-and-true marketing tactics to flood their aisles with shoppers. 

Indian e-commerce company Flipkart is in fierce rivalry with Amazon over the country's online retail market. Both have unique advantages, but the true test will be which company can best tailor its offerings to the Indian consumer’s palate.

In recent years the trucking industry has been faced with a double-edged sword — rising fuel costs and a plummeting labor force. In today’s blog we’re taking a look at what this means for shipping costs, and how retailers can fortify their operations against price hikes.

The U.S. e-commerce market has nearly doubled in size since 2011, and is forecast to grow to $737B by 2022. Managing stock for a variety of commerce channels is becoming more complex, costly, and risky. As recent losses by H&M and other major brands illustrate, poor inventory management can be a major cause of financial distress. It’s clear that in the changing market landscape, where customers expect immediate and accurate fulfillment of purchases, companies need to look at their inventory management strategies with a fresh eye.

Product counterfeiting and piracy are pervasive across almost all countries and industries. In total, this black market is expected to represent $991 billion of the global economy by 2022.

Hurricane Michael is approaching Florida via the Gulf Coast, threatening to rise from its current Category 1 status before making landfall on Wednesday. Just like with last month's Hurricane Florence in the Carolinas, Michael is going to bring storm surge, heavy rains, and severe winds throughout the state. A state of emergency has already been declared in 26 counties, and residents and businesses in the storm's path are on high alert. We wanted to remind you of some operational best practices to keep in mind while preparing your supply chain for the worst. 

Transportation is one of the world's largest industries and deeply influences how efficiently global supply chains are able to run. According to Plunkett Research, transportation revenues in 2017 reached over $1 billion in the U.S. alone. Globally, they stood at $4.8 trillion. Today, trucking, shipping, air shipping, and other logistics services are all experiencing disruption: As consumer expectations evolve, businesses are constantly pressured to deliver high-quality goods in the shortest amount of time. But issues surrounding labor and rising fuel prices pose real threats to the freight industry.

In Industry 4.0, companies are converging information technology and operational technology, to create supply chains that have a pulse on customer wants and can deliver on demand. This need to streamline has given rise to “smart factories” — factories that synthesize new technologies to boost efficiency and precision, and respond fast to design iterations so companies can produce more of what customers actually want. Sixty-seven percent of industrial manufacturers say they have ongoing smart factory initiatives, and this number is only going to grow.

In Industry 4.0, companies are converging information technology and operational technology, to create supply chains that have a pulse on customer wants and can deliver on demand. The industry-wide push to streamline supply chains has given rise to “smart factories” — factories that synthesize new technologies to boost speed and precision, and respond fast to design iterations so companies can produce more of what customers actually want. Sixty-seven percent of industrial manufacturers say they have ongoing smart factory initiatives.