Amazon-Whole Foods deal a mixed bag 5 years later | Survey: Tech, pay key to fixing warehouse labor shortage | 3PL Geodis announces expansion of warehouse robots
Since Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market in 2017, the companies have shared technology and advice, particularly regarding the growing Amazon Fresh chain. However, Whole Foods has mostly been left alone as it undergoes its own operational transformation, raising questions as to whether the deal was worth it.
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Over 70% of chief supply chain officers at retail and e-commerce companies said automation and robotics are necessary to offset a lack of younger warehouse workers, while 76% and 63% said that higher wages and bonuses, respectively, will be needed to keep workers, according to a Berkshire Grey survey. "Not only is [robotics automation] a huge attractor for young talent due to the increased safety and specialized upskilling it enables, it is also a game changer in terms of cost reduction, throughput and ROI," said Steve Johnson, president and chief operating officer of Berkshire Grey.
Third-party logistics company Geodis has reached an expanded agreement with Locus Robotics to introduce 1,000 Locus autonomous mobile robots to warehouses around the world in the next two years, primarily to help with e-commerce orders. Geodis currently uses the robots at 14 facilities in the US and Europe.
The second in a two-part series, six more business-to-business leaders share advice on how marketers can maximize the industry's creative surge. "Marketers that stick their necks out for more ambitious work will be rewarded with more and better connections, growth potential and opportunities for word-of-mouth marketing," says Rawnet's Sam Evans, while TrunkBBI's Tristan Morris notes, "The sooner we accept that we're all humans, whether at work or at home, the quicker B2B will catch up."
Sales managers can get teams into a rhythm and coach them consistently when they can develop 10 crucial characteristics, writes Erica Schultz, chief marketing officer for Rain Group. For example, top-performing sales managers tend to excel at motivation, productivity and focus, studies show.
Reframing seemingly "bad" news as a catalyst for innovation and as a chance to build resilience or recognize a new competitive edge can energize a team to think more creatively, writes Lighthouse Consulting founder Larry Robertson. "If we see it simply as news, or if we see it as a new beginning in an unending series of new beginnings, so-called bad news quickly becomes something altogether different," Robertson writes.
Leaders can boost their emotional intelligence with several daily activities, such as journaling, seeking feedback from trusted advisers and reflecting on how they handled stressful situations, writes Paul Sohn. "When you have an interaction that didn't go well, reflect on what happened and what you might have done differently to produce a better outcome," Sohn writes.
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