E-commerce expansion requires focus on the customer experience and scalability, says Steve Martinez, vice president of digital solutions at Univar Solutions. Martinez discusses the chemical distributor's multipronged approach to e-commerce and how the best efforts start out small to allow leaders to learn from mistakes.

Less than two years after its launch, United Natural Foods Inc. has extended its American Artisan Cheese and Specialty Program to a second warehouse, doubling the size of the program. Customers can purchase products from craft cheese producers, including Jasper Hill Farm, Tulip Tree Creamery, Green Dirt Farm and Cowgirl Creamery.

Amazon has begun a test program in which its contracted Flex drivers will deliver items from non-Amazon brick-and-mortar stores in participating malls. The program could give more retailers a way to offer speedier shipping and same-day delivery by using stores for online order fulfillment.

Multilayered cyberdefenses can help protect autonomous mobile robots used in warehouses, asserts Pras Velagapudi of AMR developer Berkshire Grey. "This ensures that it is not only difficult to compromise the system, but also that if a component gets compromised, it is difficult to use that to get to sensitive information or exploit any other part of the system," Velagapudi says.

To address its excess warehouse inventory, Amazon is considering subletting at least 10 million square feet of space and possibly even terminating leases with landlords, according to sources. KBC Advisors has been retained to evaluate where to end leases and where to sublet, two of the sources said. The move comes at a time when Prologis data indicates that the industrial vacancy rate is at an all-time low.

The methods salespeople use to keep customers engaged -- such as identifying their needs, helping them overcome challenges and providing alternatives -- are the same methods that will help retain top employees, writes David Brock. "The added benefit of doing this, our sales people see how we achieve these things with them, and will emulate our behaviors in working with customers," Brock writes.

Don't waste time trying to go viral but instead use business-to-business video to develop meaningful connections and delight customers, writes Chris Savage, CEO and co-founder of B2B video hosting platform Wistia. Savage's tips include surprising customers with videos in unexpected places, such as unsubscribe pages or email signatures, and creating a branded video series to appeal to viewers who love to binge content.

The Great Resignation may lead to an exodus of customers at companies that fail to define their unique purpose, measure how company culture supports the purpose and make necessary changes, write Gallup's Jake Herway and Bailey Nelson. "The messages managers convey, from incentive pay to top priorities, determine whether employees' actions and capability are boosting -- or undermining -- your credibility with customers," they write.

Companies must think broadly about potential opportunities and disruptions in their business as well as its long-term outlook, write Trudi Lang and Richard Whittington of the University of Oxford's Said Business School. They recommend focusing on developing strategic playbooks, scenarios and systems that can widen a company's ability to predict coming market and ecosystem changes.

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