No ecommerce without logistics. Because whenever a consumer orders something online, that product has to be shipped from one place (a warehouse or fulfilment centre) to another (the consumer’s house, a pick-up point, et cetera). So logistics play a very important role in the whole ecommerce process. In order to achieve success in the online retail industry, one has to have a very solid logistics plan in place.
There’s still a massive lack of multichannel integration in the United Kingdom, as 50% of retailers with stores, still don’t allow unwanted goods bought online to be returned to a store. This number hasn’t really changed in the last seven years, a new study shows. Continue reading
Amazon has expanded its distribution centre in Italy. In Castel San Giovanni, placed in the province of Piacenza, one of Europe’s most innovative distribution centers arises. It’s 70,000 square meters big and by opening this new distribution center there will be about 1,000 new jobs. Continue reading
Hermes Group has recorded sales of 2.08 billion euros. Its twelve individual companies grew their combined sales by 8% year-on-year in 2013. Parcel volumes grew by 10%, which led to the Anglo-German parcel carrier handling around 496 million items during last year. Continue reading
Volvo has showed off its Roam Delivery service, which turns cars into grocery dropboxes. The Swedish manufacturing company calls this groundbreaking and claims it’s the world’s first delivery service for bringing food and other items to the car. Continue reading
Zalando is expanding its logistics centre in Mönchengladbach, Germany. Its facility is already 78,000 square meters large, but now 56,000 sqm of expansion space will be developed alongside the current logistics center. When it’s finished (development is due for completion in September 2014), it will be the largest dedicated ecommerce logistics centre in Europe. Continue reading
Nowadays it is commonplace to buy books, music, clothes or electronics online. Buying groceries online isn’t. But that’s about to change in Europe as several supermarkets are starting to embrace ‘online’ as a sales channel. In particular, France is trying to capitalise on the trend. About 20 percent of the population is already using drive-through collection for grocies ordered online. Continue reading
Wehkamp.nl wants to reduce the amount of returns of fashion items, its top-selling category. The biggest online clothing store of the Netherlands has to deal with return rates around fifty percent. It now wants to reduce this by measuring all their clothes, so customers will return less ill-fitting articles. Continue reading
DHL is experimenting with a package delivery system in Stockholm, based on crowdsourcing. Via an app called MyWays ordinary people are used to deliver packages to (other) end consumers. Through DHL Freight’s network of service points in Sweden’s capital the service let consumers specify a time and place for delivery, as well as the fee offered for delivery. Continue reading
Otto Group will invest 50 million euros in its order fulfillment and parcel delivery infrastructure in Russia. The German company will also open its network to third-party retailers. With the investment the capacity of Otto’s logistics center will be doubled, creating almost 700 extra jobs by 2014. Continue reading
Staff members of Amazon Germany staged a daylong strike yesterday, demanding better payments and benefits. Trade Union Verdi called on workers at Amazon’s logistics center in Leipzig to stop working from 12:30 p.m. ET. It’s the second time within a month workers at Amazon’s logistics centers have staged protest against the global internet retailer. Continue reading
Deutsche Post is starting an experiment with boxes installed at people’s homes. This way the German mail service could drop the parcels in the secured boxes when a customer isn’t home. It’s all part of a greater plan, as Europe’s largest mail service wants to deliver more parcels, especially with the expected boost of food and consumer goods deliveries. Continue reading
42% of the merchants in the Internet Retailer Top 500 ship to at least some European countries. Web-only merchants seem to be the most European centered retailers. More than 150 retailers ship to all the 18 biggest European online retail markets, including The United Kingdom, Germany and France. Continue reading
Warehouses located on the edge of European cities could soon be worth a lot of money. That’s because customers nowadays expect from retailers to deliver the goods to them within a day or so. Therefore it’s expected that more and more online retailers want to have distribution sites closer to the customer. Continue reading