The latest edition of eDelivery Magazine is out now, and being delivered to readers across the UK and beyond. I caught up with my colleague Emma Herrod, executive editor of eDelivery Magazine, to hear about what readers have to look forward to from EDM05… the themes and issues covered and the articles it contains.
Retailers face a 1.5% decline in profit margins by 2025 due to the rise in online shopping and demand for home delivery. While an increasing number of retailers are introducing click-and-collect and ship-from-store models to lower costs, increase customer spend, and control the customer experience, others are introducing their own home delivery networks. We have a feature on fulfillment in this issue of the magazine, which investigates how the costing of the final mile is changing and the impact of retailers – such as Argos, Asda and Amazon – making deliveries themselves.
Katie McQuaid, director, Fulfilment by Amazon, UK spoke to Emma about how it is innovating with operations and logistics, and what that means for sellers and customers. Guided by Amazon’s four principles: customer obsession rather than competitor focus; passion for invention; commitment to operational excellence; and long-term thinking, she explains how innovation for her is around how FBA helps sellers and how she helps them to grow their business.
Elsewhere in the issue, there’s a focus on omnichannel and how supply chain and operations underpin the modern notion of omnichannel: not simply using the store, warehouse and suppliers as an extension of ecommerce, but merging all capabilities to provide a seamless experience for the customer. As well as examining current leading practice, the five articles on supply chain, warehouse, fulfillment, returns and telematics identify the new capabilities that will become orthodox for the best retailers.
If you’ve subscribed but haven’t received your copy this week, sit tight as it may be en route. Alternatively, you’ll find details on subscribing here.
On the eDelivery site this week, you’ll find an interview regarding one of the most talked-about tech breakthroughs of the last five years – the Raspberry Pi. Simon Wade, product manager at RS Components, which has distributed the Raspberry Pi since 2012, talks to us about combining b2b and b2c delivery capabilities.
Writing for us all the way from Verona, Adamo Dagradi of Milkman Deliveries, looks again at the sharing economy. This time a clash of old and new economic models may be on the cards, as workers at a startup dig their heels in about being relocated. Situations like this are likely to become increasingly common as companies from the sharing economy have to grapple with the challenges of growing, adapting, and catering to their workforce.
Sticking with the notion of newness, have you started to think that drones are old hat in the delivery world? Is it all hype..? Is it all hot air..? Well, what if there was a drone that was filled with, well not hot air exactly but helium? That’s what German conglomerate Festo has developed. Yes, a helium-filled ball that’s also a delivery drone. We’ve seen the future, and it’s decidedly spherical.
There’s no hot air in Amazon’s growth strategy, it seems. With plans to grow its UK workforce to more than 14,000 by the end of this year, the colossus of etail has announced a series of temp-to-perm jobs up and down the country.
In just two weeks, eDelivery Expo, EDX16, will be getting under way; we’ve got some truly world-class retail names attending and taking part, including: Alibaba, A Suit that Fits, Fruugo, John Lewis, New Look, Ocado, Panasonic, and Sainsbury’s, to name just a few.
I’ll be there on both days, and I’m hoping to get to meet as many eDelivery readers as I can manage. If you’re on Twitter, why not send me a tweet to let me know if you’re going – use the hashtag #EDX16 and direct your tweet to @eDeliveryNet.
The theme for Day One of EDX16 will be Multichannel Fulfilment, and poses the question does your delivery service meet your customers’ expectations? The opening keynote on Day One will be from Walter Blackwood, formerly logistics director at Mothercare and currently an independent consultant. Walter has one of the most distinguished track records in the sector, and we’ll be running an interview with him very soon.
In addition to the sessions running throughout both days, there will – of course – also be lots to see from the exhibitors. For example, packaging and paper specialist Antalis will be running live demonstrations of an Emba TrayTec packaging machine. Some of the live demos at last year’s EDX were a real hit, attracting plenty of attention and getting people talking.
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