Amazon to accelerate same-day delivery with warehouses | Wajax reports 10% profit increase for 2019 | Core & Main to buy Calif. waterworks products firm
Amazon is offering a limited product selection for same-day delivery in four cities, including Philadelphia, after opening smaller local warehouses that offer comprehensive fulfillment services.
State of the Wholesale Supply Chain Industry in 2020 For the third straight year, Blue Ridge asked wholesale supply industry leaders about their challenges, how they're thinking about solving them and how they're dealing with the pace of technological change. One key finding for the 2020 survey is the adoption of new machine learning, such as A.I., which is on the rise as a strategy to combat supply chain disruption. Get the report to read more.
Distributors shouldn't copy competitors' supply chain practices without first considering their own specific needs, writes industry consultant Robert Sabath. He also advises distributors to embrace technology, give the best service to top customers and avoid making bad business deals simply to gain customers.
Supply chain executives can limit the coronavirus outbreak's impact by taking care of employees, using scenario-planning and having an emergency operations center, writes James B. Rice Jr., deputy director of the MIT Center for Transportation & Logistics. He also offers advice for rethinking supply chain design.
The coronavirus outbreak is expected to spur more online orders, but that additional volume could pressure the driver and delivery networks of e-commerce companies. "The challenge for Amazon, for GrubHub, for everyone is what if your workforce gets sick?" says investment firm analyst Tom Forte.
The worldwide spread of the coronavirus and ensuing supply chain interruption that results in depleted inventory "could have a cooling effect" on general and Olympic marketing spending, with Amazon already seeing a drop in platform allocations. Winterberry Group's Bruce Biegel notes, "[If] you can't get your products to market. ... You stop marketing," and suggests considering contingency plans and "doing the right scenario modeling."
Leaders who talk more than they listen can undermine their team's motivation and leave them feeling frustrated, writes Dan Rockwell. "When team members can't get a word in edgewise, you tell them your words are more important than theirs," he writes.
Attendees from across many lines of trade will spend a few career-changing days focused on learning specific ways to improve their companies' profitability. Your leaders will return ready to impact your business now and for years to come. This is an exciting educational experience for anyone who wants to contribute to the success of his or her distribution company at an even higher level. Learn more and register.
To assist your leading-edge company in transforming your social selling practices, the NAW Institute for Distribution Excellence and Texas A&M University are holding a third kickoff meeting on Oct. 1 for the brand-new "Digitizing the Sales Process" consortium. If your company wants to be on the cutting-edge of creating and implementing a digital selling strategy that guides your organization and ensures that technologies are aligned with your other business processes, please register for this consortium now! To learn more, email NAW's Patricia A. Lilly.
Designed for C-suite executives, these roundtables provide actionable strategies and best practices that will increase your company's competitive advantage. Member companies belonging to this community are from distribution firms between $100 million up to a billion in annual sales. You'll experience the best networking in the industry, share ideas and benchmark with your C-suite peers in distribution -- who aren't competitors. Register today.
