In a lighthearted video, Whole Foods and Instacart extol the benefits of their new partnership. Want hard to find products or want to send groceries to your favorite college student? The service has you covered with rapid delivery. As detailed in our previous post, Whole Foods now offers online ordering and delivery via Instacart in 15 cities, including Austin, Boston, Chicago, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, an Francisco, San Jose, California, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.
Online Shopping Can Help Brick and Mortar Stores
“Webrooming” occurs when a customer researches or browses products online and ultimately buys in store; “showrooming” happens when a customer browses in store and buys online. Retailers apprehensively believed that “showrooming” would end their business at the start of the internet age. According to new research from Nielson, interestingly, 88% of U.S. consumers admit to “webrooming” while only 73% “showroomed”. The internet is a good way of researching products, but people ultimately buy their products in a brick and mortar store! Comparing buy/browse rates online, consumable products had the most similar rates, while electronic equipment had a higher browse than buy rate online. The most significant impact of omni-channel retailing is a much more informed consumer. Retailers must adapt to customers being able to check prices…
Amazon Drops Price of Fire Phone to 99 Cents
Amazon drastically cut the price of its 32-bit Fire Phone to $0.99 from $199, in an attempt to increase the Fire Phone’s mediocre sales, only a few months after the phone’s debut. The price cut come strategically a few days before Apple’s announcement of a new iPhone and a new mobile payments system, Apple Pay. The Fire Phone’s price still includes a free year of Amazon Prime, a service that usually costs $99 annually, and a 2-year contract with AT&T. Amazon clearly intends for the Fire Phone to boost sales to Amazon’s site by tracking consumer behavior and by giving consumers easier access to Amazon products. Amazon has invested heavily in hardware to make purchases easier from the site, including a set-box top for streaming…
Apple Announces a New Mobile Payment System, Whole Foods Signs Up
With the new announcement, Apple attempts to succeed where other mobile payment systems have quietly under performed, payment systems like Google Wallet and Softcard. Apple Pay will use near-field communication (NFC) to process the mobile payment. A customer can simply wave their mobile phone in front of a retail terminal and press their thumbprint on Apple’s iPhone thumbprint reader to confirm the transaction and pay. Apple Pay stores a unique device-only code for payments. Payments can be suspended if the phone is lost or stolen. Apple does not collect any transaction data from the retailer or the customer. The feature accepts major credit cards, MasterCard, Visa, and American Express. Already over 20,000 retailers have announced they would accept the payment, including Whole Foods, Target, and…
There’s No Such Thing as Free Supply Courses, or Is There?
MIT is providing materials for its new digital supply chain course for free to students and working professionals. The first course provides a survey of tools, approaches, and techniques for the design and operation of supply chains. This is a chance for all of us to continue to learn at no cost. MIT Plans Launch of Global Digital Supply Chain Classroom By MIT CTL On September 30, 2014, supply chain education will take a major step into the digital age with the start of SCx, an online educational program developed by the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics (MIT CTL) for thousands of professionals across the globe. More than 9,000 individuals have already signed up for the first course, CTL.SC1x Supply Chain and Logistics Fundamentals,…
Whole Foods Partners with Instacart
Whole Foods announces a new partnership with grocery delivery start-up Instacart, to deliver groceries from their stores directly to their customers’ homes. The service will be immediately available in the 15 U.S. cities where Instacart already operates, and the two companies are also testing an in-store pickup service in select stores in Boston and Austin. Whole Foods gains an immediate online presence and a convenient new service for its high-income shoppers who may not have the time to shop regularly. Although this alliance seems like a big step for Whole Foods, it almost feels like catch-up for Whole Foods to remain relevant in the online shopping world. There is heavy competition from AmazonFresh, Peapod, FreshDirect, Google Express Shopping, and others. Whole Foods and Instacart turn…
Amazon is 20 Years Old. What will the next 25 years bring?
Amazon’s stock price goes up as its margins decline. Will investors continue to believe? Will the ever fickle Millennials stick with Amazon or will it become “where grannies shop” mimicking the trend of Facebook which has lost favor with Millenials. Will the burden of all of the infrastructure Amazon is putting in to support same-day shipping be worth it to consumers or will they trade time for money and go with low infrastructure solutions like Alibaba? Get out your crystal ball! Retail in 25 years: Amazon’s dominance or demise? By John Jannarone Amazon has grown into a juggernaut capable of toppling established leaders across the retail industry. If the company keeps rolling for another 25 years, companies in even more sectors will fight to protect…
Multi-Channel Moves In House
When eCommerce first gained a lot of volume, retailers built dedicated warehouses to ship orders. This process resulted in the creation of two inventory pools, one for online, and one for in-store. Often these two inventory pools are separated by a firewall, and cannot communicate. This makes for a frustrating experience as a shopper; how many times have you gone to the store to purchase something you saw online, only to have the store be out-of-stock and unable to order it for you? Some retailers, especially in the fashion world, have crossed this divide, allowing you to reserve items in-store for pick-up, or drop shipping out-of-stock product directly to you. These methods are not without their own challenges; real-time inventory reconciliation, order flow, and…
Forbes: Top 3 Shopping Trends
Retail is changing more now than in any time in history. For those of us trying to “aim where the ball is going,” predicting future trends is what it is all about. Forbes suggest that the top three trends are: Location-based Technology: Knowing where your customers are and how to use that information to engage them Omni-Channel Retail: Duh. I think we all get the need to provide consumers with a seamless, “I can get anything anywhere” experience. Top Brands Now Start Online: Just like music, brands are going to start online. This means lower entry costs and lots of new, small manufacturers. The Future Of Shopping In Three Trends By J. J. Colao Back in 2012, I wrote a piece titled, Five Trends Driving…
US 3PL Market is Growing
Large and small manufacturers and retailers are turning to 3PLs to manage warehousing and transportation. This allows manufacturers and retailers to focus on their customers and the things that set them apart from their competitors. Additionally, 3PLs continue to expand service offerings to meet the changing needs presented by omni-channel businesses. U.S. 3PL Market Forecasted to reach $154 billion in 2014 The U.S. Third Party Logistics market gross revenue grew 3.2% from 2012-2013 according to Armstrong & Associates, Inc. The research and consulting firm also estimates that growth will be 5.2% for 2014 bringing the U.S. market size to $154 billion. Net revenues are expected to increase by 4.3% from $64.6 billion in 2013 to $67.4 billion in 2014. Domestic Transportation Management (DTM) should increase…