Category Archives: Ecommerce

Will Roadie provide an alternative cost effective delivery model ?

Posted on February 25, 2015 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal titled “Technology Bubble? Ask Waffle House” (February 24, 2015, http://www.wsj.com/articles/technology-bubble-ask-waffle-house-1424754062?cb=logged0.0031108735129237175) describes an alliance between Roadie (a technology startup) and Waffle House (a 24 hour restaurant). Under the agreement, Waffle House’s 1750 stores will … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Collaboration, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, Operations Management, retailers | Tagged Capacity, Collaboration, Coordination, Cost, Design, Margins, Risk, Service | Leave a comment

Will coordination between e-commerce retailers and carriers ensure on-time deliveries this Holiday season?

Posted on October 2, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (October 1, 2014) titled “UPS, FedEx Want Retailers to Get Real on Holiday Shipping” describes pleas by the carriers FedEx and UPS to ecommerce retailers to stagger their promotions, avoid promising free overnight … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Collaboration, competitiveness, consumer, Cost, delivery, Ecommerce, mgmt5612018, retailers | Tagged Capacity, delivery, Ecommerce, FedEx, mgmt5612018, packages, UPS | 74 Comments

Adjusting distribution centers for omnichannel success at the retailer John Lewis

Posted on September 21, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in CSCMP’s Supply Chain Quarterly (Quarter 2, 2014) titled “A Supply Chain Redesign for Omnichannel success” describes changes to the distribution center at the retailer John Lewis to ensure omnichannel success – a 7.2% sales increase in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Collaboration, consumer, Cost, Ecommerce, productivity, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged click and collect, Ecommerce, emb2020, omnichannel, retailer | 28 Comments

“Parcel” aims to mediate between shipper, carrier and customer

Posted on September 7, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in Mashable.com (February 12,2014) and available at http://mashable.com/2014/02/12/parcel/ describes the company Parcel (https://fromparcel.com/) that permits customers to have their online packages delivered to a Parcel shipping address. Customers then provide details such as preferred delivery time, doorbell ring or … Continue reading →

Posted in consumer, Cost, Ecommerce, logistics, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues | 25 Comments

US Postal service to deliver Amazon groceries between 3 and 7 am

Posted on September 6, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal (September 6,2014) titled “U.S. Mail Delivers Amazon Groceries in Test” describes a pilot in which US Mail delivers containers of grocery including meat and dairy in San Francisco. The deliveries take place between … Continue reading →

Posted in Capacity, Collaboration, Ecommerce, Service Operations, Supply Chain Issues, truck | Tagged Amazon, grocery | 2 Comments

Will the global package business model offered by “manyship.com” be sustainable ?

Posted on September 1, 2014 by aviyer2010

The website http://www.manyship.com describes a system in which individual travelers post their planned trip, shippers post their requirements and the available capacity is assigned to carry products between destinations. The company charges shippers $20 per pound and pays carriers $10 … Continue reading →

Posted in Air, Capacity, Cost, Ecommerce, Global Contexts, Liability, Service Operations | Leave a comment

Is Amazon vulnerable because it does not control last mile delivery ?

Posted on August 4, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in WIRED magazine (May 8, 2014) titled “Amazon Should Make the Postal Service Its Own Personal Courier” describes Amazon’s service vulnerability because it does not control outbound transportation from distribution centers, unlike WalMart. The UPS delivery slippage last … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged competition, Consumers, Cost, Ecommerce, Supply Chain, transport | 9 Comments

France’s laws to protect bookshops

Posted on July 11, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the International Herald Tribune (July 10,2014) titled “The French do buy books. Real books”, describes two French laws, the “Lang Law” that says that book prices cannot be discounted more than 5%, and a new rule that … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Global Contexts, Service Operations | Tagged books, competition, Consumers, Cost, Ecommerce, France, regulation, Retail, Supply Chain | Leave a comment

Is Amazon using Pre-order levels as a tool in negotiating higher margins from publishers ?

Posted on May 24, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article in the Wall Street Journal on May 23, 2014 (http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303749904579580052135901452?mg=reno64-wsj) titled “Amazon-Hachette Dispute Heats Up”, describes a complaint that no pre-orders for books by J L Rowling at Amazon.com’s website were being taken, while other sites continue to … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Amazon, availability, books, Consumers, Coordination, Cost, margin, pre-orders, publishers, Supply Chain | 21 Comments

Can Walmart get store customers to deliver online orders ?

Posted on May 19, 2014 by aviyer2010

An article published by Reuters (http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/03/28/us-retail-walmart-delivery-idUSBRE92R03820130328) titled “Wal-Mart may get customers to deliver packages to online buyers”, describes an idea where store customers could sign up to deliver orders to customers in their route in return for a discount on … Continue reading →

Posted in Ecommerce, Operations Management, Supply Chain Issues | Tagged Capacity, Consumers, Cost, crowdsourced, delivery, Ecommerce, instore customers, Retail, Risk, Supply Chain, transport, WalMart | 1 Comment