It may still officially be two days away but for most retailers the Black Friday promotions have already started – fuelled both by consumer desire to bag the bargains early but also tactical planning by retailers stretching out the promotion to relieve the pressure on their delivery supply chains.
It will be over the next few days that we see how they coped but one delivery strategy that’s likely to be adopted by many over the period is click and collect – increasingly a must-have strategy for shoppers that want to bag their goods without the hassle of waiting in for delivery or the danger of running out of stock instore.
It’s apt therefore in the run-up to Christmas that The Entertainer is the latest to expand its click and collect offering. The toy retailer is offering the service through the Doddle network. Customers can already click and collect through stores or collect from myHermes locations.
In an attempt to prompt customers and retailers to be aware of last posting dates Parcelforce Worldwide has launched a new Christmas ad that follows the story of a girl getting a gift to her grandma overseas.
At AO World the company has updated about its trials delivering on behalf of third-party retailers in its latest results. The company is using its green van network to deliver furniture and is also continuing to develop its premium installation service which combines delivery and installation of products sold by the retailer.
As it continues to consider the future of delivery Amazon is testing the potential of parcel delivery by drones at DronePort, a new facility in Belgium. The company will be amongst a number testing drones there.
Talking of considering the future Brexit obviously continues to dominate the headlines this week and we also have a futuristic opinion piece that looks at the potential for blockchain in the logistics sector, thanks to a piece from James Robbins, CIO of ArrowXL.
Finally, new research from Cushman & Wakefield shows that when it comes to the UK real estate market it’s the logistics sector that continues to outperform.
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