Moderate growth of 5.6% in 2023 is anticipated for the US grocery business, according to Coresight Research. "There is a potential for a wide variation in company performances across the sector in 2023 due to inflation uncertainty," Coresight notes.

Store brand dollar share rose to a record 18.8% during the first half of the year, overtaking national brands, according to data from Circana. Many retailers have boosted their private-label offerings, including Kroger, which reported a 5% increase in private-label sales in the first quarter, and Walmart, which reported that private-label sales comprise more than one-fifth of its overall sales.

At least two cargo vessels have diverted from Canada to US West Coast ports as International Longshore & Warehouse Union Canada workers continue a strike that began July 1. But dockworkers in the US who belong to the American arm of the union "will not be unloading Canadian-bound cargo in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in ILWU Canada," ILWU International President Willie Adams says.

Inventory drone manufacturer Verity has raised $11 million to bring its Series B fundraising to $43 million, which the Swiss startup plans to invest in scaling and bringing its technology to market. IKEA has used 100 of Verity's drones in 16 European warehouses, and Boaz Peer of Qualcomm Ventures, an investor, notes that "Verity's self-flying drone technology and advanced warehouse inventory analytics are helping transform supply chains by enabling end-to-end, real-time visibility."

USPS is becoming more competitive in the small package shipping space with the official rollout of its Ground Advantage service, which handles packages up to 70 pounds without residential delivery fees or fuel surcharges. Parcel specialists say the new service simplifies processes for shippers and predict it will help the agency capture a larger share of shipper spending.

"Some kind of connective tissue" linking robotic software and hardware is the missing ingredient for a seamless integration of a true dark warehouse or factory that requires no humans on the plant floor to operate, says Guy Courtin of digital supply chain solutions company Tecsys. Such a development, however, will require software providers, integrators and consultants each ceding some ground to others rather than attempting to "become that player that controls all of it," Courtin says.

Marketers can make significant competitive gains by using an upper-funnel approach, underutilized first-party data and supporting third-party systems and AI to segment audiences into quadrants to drive lifetime value, writes Playbook Media CEO Bryan Karas. "Making big improvements in any of these three initiatives will net more marketing benefit than the most cutting-edge ChatGPT deployments," Karas writes.

Scott Lambert, creative director at Design Bridge and Partners, explains the five business-to-business brand principles that make companies like IBM, CISCO and Deloitte iconic brands. Lambert highlights IBM's use of a strong, flexible visual identity, CISCO's purpose-driven marketing and Deloitte's ability to "create a lasting buzz."

Reverse the recent decline in productivity by investing in technologies that help people do their jobs, focusing on employee respect and learning, tracking employees' work routines and conducting fewer meetings, workforce leaders say. "If you're constantly interrupted with meetings, it makes it very difficult to do the job you were hired for," says Tia Silas, Shopify's chief HR officer.

Women fill less than a quarter of leadership roles in manufacturing and technology while making up only about 30% of the overall workforce, creating a large gender gap, writes Jennifer Johnson, manufacturing and life sciences industry lead for Avanade North American. Johnson notes that many factors ranging from family dynamics to corporate policies contribute to the gap, concluding that leaders "must rethink the guidelines set a generation ago to enable flexibility and growth opportunities for everyone and maintain a deep talent and recruitment pool."