Covering the back end of catalog, Internet, and multichannel businesses, from order management to picking, packing, and shipping
The deal with DHL restructuring
Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Patrick Barnard
Rumors had been circulating for months that Deutsche Post would pull its DHL delivery service out of North America. It didn't, but it's taking some drastic...
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What you can learn from a telemarketer
Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jeff Schmitt
Author Raymond Carver once wrote, You never start out life with the intention of becoming bankrupt or an alcoholic or a cheat and a thief. Or a liar....
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VT Teddy Bear: Monitoring success
Jul 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Patrick Barnard
Until a few years ago, the contact center managers at Vermont Teddy Bear Co. would monitor the performance of the agents by walking up and down the aisles...
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 Getting DC Size Right
Apr 16, 2008 9:08 AM, By Jim Tierney
No multichannel marketer wants to be stuck with a distribution center that’s too small Excess capacity in a facility that’s too big is just as much of a problem. Just ask Lillian Vernon....
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Have HEART, Operations Execs
Apr 16, 2008 8:33 AM, By Jim Tierney
During his session “Are We Ever Going To Get It Right,” at NCOF in Orlando, FL, last week, Hill educated attendees about the aspects of HEART, which stands for humanistic, ethical, agile/acquisitive, responsive/resilient, and targeted. These basic fundamentals, he said, can improve your company’s performance and spark fulfillment and delivery excellence. ...
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American Eagle Outfitters on Cutting Labor Expenses
Apr 2, 2008 9:25 AM, By Jeff Morris
American Eagle Outfitters operates several distribution centers in North America, including a facility in Warrendale, PA, and a DC in Mississauga, Ontario, to service its Canadian stores. But the multichannel apparel merchant is most excited about its newest DC in Ottawa, KS, which is helping it reduce labor costs....
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Fear FACTA
Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM
This isn't a new law. The Fair and Accurate Credit Transactions Act, or FACTA, was passed by Congress in 2003 in an effort to combat identity theft. It...
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Listen Up
Dec 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By KAREN M. KROLL
We all know the drill. An order comes in, and the picker has to wade through sheets of labels to know what to pick. It takes time, and he also has to report that it's complete. But there's another way. The worker gets the order through a headset. When he's finished, he says “done.”...
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Listen Up
Dec 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By KAREN M. KROLL
We all know the drill. An order comes in, and the picker has to wade through sheets of labels to know what to pick. It takes time, and he also has to report that it's complete. But there's another way. The worker gets the order through a headset. When he's finished, he says “done.”...
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A Peek at Holiday Order Picking
Nov 14, 2007 8:32 AM, By Susan Rider
As the holidays approach and people turn their minds to gift buying, distribution centers plan to see business surges. This time of year makes you focus on the need to have your process in line so that temporary employees can get up to speed as quickly as possible. Since order picking in most facilities is where all the action is, it seems appropriate to spend some time in this area--where usually the greatest opportunities for improvement can be found....
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Pick a peck of products
Sep 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Ann Meyer
Sales were booming at Evergreen Enterprises. So the firm expanded into a 500,000 sq. ft. warehouse to handle the volume. That's where the trouble started....
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Send them packing
Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By W. Eric Martin
Packing is a simple task requiring little or no thought: You pack the goods, seal the box, and send it to the shipping department. Right? Not quite. This...
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Packing It In: What's New in Packaging Materials
Jun 1, 2007 12:00 PM, By Dana Dubbs
It's not always easy to find innovation in packing materials. After all, how many times can you reinvent the packing peanut or improve upon plastic air-pillow...
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Filling the Void, Part Two
May 30, 2007 11:14 AM, By Sam Flanders
This is the second in a series on how to pack and fill parcels before shipping them. ...
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Postal reform: a rate hike every May
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, Jim Tierney
The postal reform bill passed in late 2006 does mean that rate hikes should be much more manageable, since they are tied to the CPI (Consumer Price Index)....
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GETTING YOUR GOODS ACROSS THE GLOBE
Mar 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY ROB MARTINEZ
One Day it Happens: Your first international order. You didn't market to that country. You didn't solicit the business. But here it is. And you have to...
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MAKING A RATE CASE
Jan 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY ROB MARTINEZ
When your shipping costs go up, it would be nice if you could just pass that increase along to your customers. But you can't: Multiple studies show that...
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Training Phone Reps to Upsell
Apr 2, 2008 9:20 AM, By Liz Kislik
Many call center reps see themselves as order-takers or processors or helpers, not as salespeople, and they can be fearful--and in some cases, downright negative--about selling. So the approach of teaching reps to “make the ask,” as fundraisers call it, instead of asking them to “sell,” often creates less resistance....
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Increasing AOV on the phone
Apr 1, 2008 12:00 PM, BY LIZ KISLIK
What's the AOV this week? How's the AOV trending? When marketers start talking about average order value, I can't help thinking of Garrison Keillor's...
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Helping Phone Reps Increase AOV
Mar 26, 2008 8:24 AM, By Liz Kislik
You can do a few things to increase your average order value. But you’ll have to work for it. Most customers calling to order have chosen their merchandise before they dial; some have even calculated their order total. So triggering the impulsive act of adding on to an order will take a little bit of advance planning....
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Roadway Goes Heavy on Parcel Delivery
Jul 16, 2008 11:57 AM, By Patrick Barnard
Transportation services provider Roadway is going after the home delivery business. The company has teamed up with NonstopDelivery, a third-party logistics provider specializing in home delivery and supply chain management, to roll out a final mile delivery service for heavyweight goods throughout the U.S....
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Tread Lightly When Improving Warehouse Operations
Jul 15, 2008 4:32 PM, By Sam Flanders
A period of economic downturn can be a great opportunity to plan out and implement improvements in your warehouse operations. You might, for example, aim to significantly lower labor costs, reduce error rates, decrease stockouts, or improve the quality of your delivered orders. But it’s important to pace out such changes slowly and carefully.
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Do You Need a Workforce Management System?
Jul 15, 2008 4:07 PM, By Penny Reynolds
Labor is the single biggest expense facing any contact center -- which is why getting the right number of agents in place to answer incoming calls, place outbound calls, respond to emails, and handle Web contacts is critical to contact center success and profitability....
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Shipwire Expands into Europe
Jul 9, 2008 11:58 AM
Shipwire, a warehouse and shipping service geared for e-tailers, has expanded into Europe with a new fulfillment center in East Sussex, U.K....
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OPERATIONS & FULFILLMENT
