Wakefern Food Corp. is using 12 of its trailers to transport equipment to pop-up field hospitals in New Jersey. The state is setting up the four temporary facilities to take pressure off of regular hospitals, some of which are almost at capacity.
Amazon is focused on strengthening its Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market delivery and pickup services and has shuttered its brick-and-mortar stores until at least April 7 in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. The company is making high-demand grocery items a top priority and putting purchasing limits on popular products.
Amazon has deemed beauty and personal care products essential items that brands and sellers can continue to send to their fulfillment centers, and sales in the category are surging amid the pandemic. As more brick-and-mortar specialty stores have closed and people are social distancing, consumers are increasingly turning to Amazon and other online outlets for their beauty supplies.
Tampa Bay Times (St. Petersburg, Fla.) (tiered subscription model)
(3/24)
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Autonomous mobile robots can help warehouse workers efficiently fill orders as staff becomes more difficult to find and costly to train, writes Chris Cunnane. Testing of autonomous trains and trucks is on the rise, but these vehicles face many regulatory roadblocks, he writes.
The coronavirus pandemic has forced companies to rethink how they manage their supply chains, George Lawton writes. He lists seven best practices to follow, including establishing supply command centers and looking into regionalizing supply chains.
Distributors can take this time of disruption and closures to work on improving their sales strategy, writes John Gunderson. Sales teams should avoid panic pricing, explore the possibility of appropriate promotions and focus on short-term forecasts.
Business-to-business marketers should be reviewing paid media strategies to cope during the coronavirus pandemic, Ashley Mo writes. Mo's recommendations include setting up dashboards on Google Data Studio and Search Ads 360 to monitor performance, repurposing content for webinars or virtual events, adjusting copy tone and playing it safe when placing brand content next to topics surrounding the crisis.
Leaders need to communicate a clear, consistent message during a crisis so people don't become paralyzed by indecision, says Carreen Winters, MWWPR's chairman of reputation and chief strategy officer. "In some cases, corporate communications leaders are the only ones thinking about audiences holistically, and pointing out mismatches between corporate strategy, priorities, and messaging," Winters says.
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