Great Quarter, Guys is typically headlined by lively debate between Andrew Cox and Seth Holm, but on this special live session for FreightWaves Global Supply Chain Week, Kevin Hill took Holm’s co-host spot to play “you care or nah?” They followed the debate with interviews from the CEO of ZUUM Transportation and two leaders of Home Depot.
First up, Walmart’s earnings report was released showing same store sales up 8% in the fourth quarter, but Hill doesn’t care. Cox does care, noting “Walmart is America’s largest retailer,” but said growth is decelerating as pandemic buying slowly trickles off.
Next, jet.com co-founder Nathan Faust launched a delivery service sans cardboard, instead consolidating a customer’s order into one weekly delivery dropped off in a reusable shipper. Hill thinks the consumer desire to have goods immediately poses a challenge with the once-weekly delivery. Cox cares and said while sustainability highlights the idea, the two-way use of the shipper for returns and deliveries will attract consumers to use it.
With debate over, Cox and Hill welcomed ZUUM CEO Mustafa Azizi to the show. Azizi talked about how ZUUM has changed since its inception and how the product has become more modularized for ZUUM’s customers.
The business world is tough for startups and Azizi said the product was built off knowing ZUUM’s limitations. “We don’t have the giant budget to do the marketing in a lot of places, so we had to build a product that had high value for our customers,” said Azizi.
Michelle Livingston, vice president of transportation, and John Drake, vice president of delivery, both from Home Depot, joined the show to discuss how COVID-19 impacted the home improvement industry. Livingston said 2020 was historic for capacity due to the overwhelming demand for home products. Drake said the changes Home Depot made were swift and effective, which translated to 86% growth in online product sales for the year.