The logistics industry will be keenly watching the outcome of a key meeting today with the UK’s prime minister Theresa May and her cabinet. She will be hoping to win support for a deal on what the state’s future relationship with the EU will look like after sparring with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn at Prime Minister’s Questions today.
Today also saw the opening of the Future Logistics conference, at which David Wells, CEO of the FTA, used his ‘Logistics 2050’ keynote to try to define a roadmap for how the industry can adapt to technological and consumer changes. He also spoke to eDelivery for an exclusive interview in which he discussed the potential impact of a no deal exit from the EU.
Earlier in the month eDelivery attended the launch event for Business for a People’s Vote, a campaign to win a second vote on the referendum, where smaller retailers expressed their concern over how an exit from the EU will impact their logistics.
Meanwhile, an exclusive interview with the CEO of German distributor Reichelt sheds light on how having logistics in house is helping the company mitigate against potential fallout from Brexit.
With Black Friday just over a week away, the biggest names in retail are also ramping up their capabilities in order to meet the demands of the year’s biggest shopping period.
Accordingly, we have the news that John Lewis has introduced new software that will help it boost visibility over shipments coming into its stores. The company expects this to help it handle click and collect orders over the peak period – which it thinks will constitute 55% of total orders over the four days leading up to Cyber Monday.
Amazon is also preparing for peak with a new advert that focuses on singing delivery boxes, similar to last year’s featuring a song by Supertramp. This year the TV spot features the song ‘Can You Feel It?’ by the Jackson 5.
Elsewhere we have an opinion piece from Global Freight Solutions on logistics strategies to navigate a competitive retail environment, research on the rising cost of failing to provide good delivery experiences and the news of Co-op building a new sustainable depot in the UK.
