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Global Supply Chain

Todd Maiden Saturday, April 24, 2021

What is supply chain finance?

Buyers and suppliers have turned to supply chain finance to manage liquidity needs for decades. However, supplier finance programs have seen increased scrutiny from regulatory bodies, which seek greater disclosure.

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FreightWaves Staff Friday, April 2, 2021

The retailer vs. brand battle has never been more intense

The battle between brands and retailers is not new, but it’s more acute than ever because of the options each side has. For brands, it’s never been easier to own and operate sales channels both online and IRL. For retailers, there’s never been more digitally native brands seeking out offline homes than there are right now. And giants like Target, Walmart and Amazon have proven that consumers are willing to purchase and even be very loyal to private label brands.

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FreightWaves Staff Saturday, March 27, 2021

Generally, just tired of paying these freight rates

Volatility in trucking markets has prompted shippers to assess different ways of securing reliable capacity. For DG, that means more reliance on in-house transportation, but that’s certainly not the only option. Some retailers are looking to diversify their transportation partners to avoid delays and secure truck space. Others are debating streamlining their transportation needs by signing over their private fleets to logistics specialists.

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FreightWaves Staff Wednesday, March 24, 2021

Retail openings will outpace closures for first time in years

COVID-19 forced dramatic change at the end of the supply chain seemingly overnight. Retailers had to adjust quickly to succeed, and those that did are looking at a recovering consumer economy with the best balance sheet in decades on top of a real estate market reeling from store closures. Pair this with an e-commerce acceleration of five years and a movement to DTC and you have a market ripe for innovative physical expansion.

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FreightWaves Staff Friday, March 5, 2021

Why Nordstrom Rack is key to managing overbought inventory

This week, President Biden announced we will have enough vaccinations for every American by the end of May. For the American people, this is fantastic news. For apparel retailers, it’s euphoric news that complicates an already extremely uncertain environment. In this edition of Point of Sale, we’ll take a look at apparel inventory management through the lens of Nordstrom’s recent woes.

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Clarissa Hawes Wednesday, February 24, 2021

GSCW chat recap: Wengel on strengthening global supply chain through digitalization, integration

Matt Waller, dean of the Sam M. Walton College of Business at the University of Arkansas, and Kathy Wengel, executive vice president and chief global supply chain officer for Johnson & Johnson, discuss key trends that have emerged in the global supply chain during the COVID-19 pandemic as suppliers, manufacturers and distributors collaborated to ensure critical supplies were deployed all over the world.

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FreightWaves Staff Tuesday, February 23, 2021

Can $14 billion get Walmart to e-commerce profitability?

There has been a consumer flight to reliability throughout COVID, and Walmart benefited from this shift as much as any retailer. But with the end of the pandemic now in sight and Americans poised for the reopening of services, Walmart is expecting growth to moderate considerably. Walmart announced plans to invest heavily in its supply chain, namely fulfillment capacity and automation, to front-run the deceleration and claw toward e-commerce profitability.

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