Retail

Are the reports of FedEx’s struggles greatly exaggerated?

As peak retail season approaches, the battle for retail compliance only intensifies.

Chinese e-commerce heavyweight JD.com reports strong growth across its platform, a trend the company expects to continue.

As retailer prepares to close all 44 Canadian stories, court documents reveal transportation, logistics and customs providers that stand to lose business.

Target tells its suppliers to forget about tariff-related price increases.

C.H. Robinson has executed thousands of shipments into Florida since Thursday.

Using data from FreightWaves SONAR, economist Ibrahiim Bayaan writes about the state of the U.S. retail market and what is ahead for this key sector.

Target provides an optimistic shot in the arm as the mega-retailer reports a strong quarterly performance and raises its full-year outlook.

Retail remains a rare source of strength in the economy while manufacturing struggles

Executives from C.H. Robinson discussed increasingly strict retail compliance programs and how to exceed expectations.

A climbing stock market could have consumers reaching for their wallets more often and making bigger purchases, helping sustain retail growth throughout the summer.

In partnership with Slync… AWR products enable supplier and retailer networks that react as one.

Your snapshot of what the markets are doing this week.

The monthly economic roundup summarizes key results in the economy over the past month and highlights trends worth watching

The retail giant’s U.S. same-store sales were up 3.4 percent, its highest first-quarter results in nine years and fourth consecutive quarter over 3 percent.

Your weekly fuel report has arrived.

The Economic Roundup is designed to synthesize the events of the past month as they relate to freight markets, and provide a guide on trends to keep an eye on in the upcoming month.

It’s time for your weekly fuel report. More information available exclusively for SONAR users.

Your weekly snapshot of how the markets are doing.

Retail sales rebounded in March, rising by the largest amount in over a year. Growth was brod-based during the month, with most areas in the sector seeing rising sales.

Walmart has introduced Voice Order, that allows people to add items to their Walmart online cart by giving voice commands through any Google Assistant enabled device.

It’s time for your weekly fuel report. More information available exclusively for SONAR users.

In partnership with Slync… Markdowns cost retailers $300 billion a year, and inventory mismanagement is largely to blame.

Onfleet won the first annual RTech supply chain innovation award for its online dashboard application. The application’s software assists businesses to manage in-house deliveries, as well as managing outsourced last-mile deliveries.

DHL showcased its Resilience360 platform at the 2019 LINK Conference in Orlando

Redwood Logistics spoke on the importance of technology in the retail supply chain at the 2019 LINK supply chain conference in Orlando.

Convey showcased its self-service delivery appointment scheduling platform at the 2019 LINK supply chain conference in Orlando.

The 2019 LINK supply chain conference opened its exposition today with a keynote address delivered by Richard Johnson, chairman, president and chief executive officer at Foot Locker Retail Inc. (NYSE: FL).

The 2019 Retail Supply Chain Conference – also known as LINK – begins today at the Gaylord Palms Resort and Convention Center in Orlando, Florida. The conference will serve as a networking and learning event for top executives in retail supply chain institutions.

Unpredictable demand, expectations of a high service level, and labor scarcity are the most significant challenges that face logistics today, and it is crucial for warehouses to face up to it by having the right mix of automation and human resources on its floor.

January used to be known as the worst month for freight, but consumer trends are starting to change that.

Technology Crossover Ventures (TCV) has made a $200 million minority investment in Finland-based RELEX Solutions (RELEX), a leading provider of retail planning solutions – including supply chains – according to a RELEX press release.

Supply chain investments are helping retailers meet the inventory challenges of a growing market, the National Retail Federation (NRF) reported today in its 2019 retail sales forecast.

The monthly economic roundup is a summary of recent event in the economy and a guide for key trends worth monitoring over the next month.

Despite the temporary end to the government shutdown announced late Friday, the U.S. Census Bureau failed today to release its report on manufacturers’ durable goods shipments, inventories, and orders for the month of December 2018.

Class 8 truck orders dropped dramatically in both November and December, with orders dropping below deliveries in December.

It’s that time of year; time to look forward and plan for the year. In order to have a better idea of where the economy and industry are headed, we always like to look back and review from where we came and what happened.

Manufacturing leads first-party logistics growth because of the sector’s long-established supply chains. Retail is the next-largest contributor to first-party logistics growth through the impact of e-commerce.

‘Tis nearly the season now for reverse logistics, but meanwhile retailers and parcel carriers are delivering strong results along with signals of steep changes in sales and shipping patterns this holiday season.

The freight market remains slow in most parts of the country except for one. Will it spill into other regions?

The freight market is showing the first signs of turning in over a month. Is this the start of retail season?

FreightWaves Chief Economist Ibrahiim Bayaan and FreightWaves Chief Analytics Officer Dean Croke explained what the data is saying about the freight market in this week’s monthly market update.

When you consider all the implications of the service, it may be one of the biggest deals happening in the industry that you haven’t heard about.

The freight market continues to stabilize, but there should be a little fuel left in the tank for one more seasonal push before the holidays.

Overall truckload volumes and spot rates are soft, but a huge wave of containers hit the West Coast in September, retail demand is strong, and additions to the national fleet of drivers have been marginal.

The number of trucks sold at auction climbed notably in September, and pricing trended lower. Model year 2015 trucks took a particularly hard hit thanks to higher volume and higher average mileage.

Barclays forecasts a drop in oil price; China is witnessing a historic fall in auto sales over stock market crash and U.S.-China trade war; banks are discussing on emergency financing to liquidate Sears.

Hurricane Michael is forecast to make landfall as a strengthening Category 4; Sears may go bankrupt; retailers struggle to fill the hole left by Toys R Us; Cowen is bullish on Canadian Pacific; Seoul continues ploughing money into HMM to cover operations.

Indices are clearly signaling that the container volume coming in through the Long Beach/LA port is surging and bodes well for the holiday shopping season.

A roundup of economic data releases and events over the past month, and view of trends worth watching in October. Freight demand conditions remained generally solid during the month, though international trade and housing remain trouble areas. Supply within trucking looks to be expanding, and hires in the industry continued to climb

Amazon 4-star will open to the public today in the SoHo neighborhood of New York.

J.D. Power is forecasting more new truck deliveries in the coming months, but demand is still expected to outpace supply into the second quarter of 2019.

This is all part of the startup’s mission to help independent ecommerce businesses battle giants like Amazon.

Freight demand remained strong through the end of the 2nd quarter, but growth is likely to normalize through the 3rd quarter as some of the temporary boosts to economic activity fade.

U.S. retail sales rose solidly in June, boosted by increases in purchases of motor vehicles and a range of other goods, cementing expectations for robust economic growth in the second quarter.

Freight conditions generally held solid during the month despite some softening in the manufacturing sector. With economic fundamentals largely in place, the focus has shifted to trade policy, where trade war escalations threaten domestic activity.

E-commerce sales shrugged off a weak quarter for retail overall, and the resilience of online shopping should continue to drive innovation in transportation and freight markets as businesses look to take advantage.

A Walmart worker loads a trailer inside a distribution center. Private fleets can provide significant value to their broader organizations, but they still must compete for business, which is why customer service ranks so high as a top concern.

GS1 makes the system complete and more accurate in the supply chain so that consumers have a smooth shopping experience from website searches, all the way to when the product reaches their doorstep.

Health company higi is opening up resources at its 11,000 self-screening health stations to truck drivers who are members of Rolling Strong for free biometric testing.

The merged companies could mean the transformation of the way we consume soda, as well as the  consolidation of shipping and shelf space. The product can also bypass retail stores entirely and ship directly to consumers.

With all the purchasing of team apparel and snacks that takes place around the Super Bowl, it’s imperative those goods make it to retail locations on time. It takes a Big Game logistics operation to make it happen.

No surprise, the e-commerce trend has entrenched itself into the lives of consumers — for better or worse — and there’s no turning back now. Another round of retailers this year has filed for bankruptcy.

Access to quicker delivery options has boomed sales of perishable commodities like frozen pizza and ice cream, and that has led to a boom in refrigerated freight options.

Is e-commerce hitting a ceiling? Or is brick and mortar back in style? In November, consumer spending at brick and mortar stores increased by 0.8%, exceeding economists’ expectations by 0.5%. These gains were also coupled with e-commerce growth, indicating Americans are simply spending more this holiday season.

Consumer confidence remains high, yet retail stores continue to close their doors. Welcome to shopping in a modern America.

Taking the last-mile delivery battle seriously, Amazon may have found a hit with its Hub. According to The Motley Fool, Amazon is putting Hubs in “multi-tenant dwellings like apartment buildings, condos, and complexes.”

Luxury brands have been closing up shop in China recently, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP). The phenomenon of building brick-and-mortar stores that “originated in China,” has now reversed itself, as more retail stores are closing up shop and moving online.

President Donald Trump once again took to Twitter this morning to lash out at Amazon, targeting the company’s alleged non-collection of taxes.

In another step into the food space, Amazon has announced it will buy Whole Foods for $13.4 billion plus debt, giving the e-tailer a physical presence in the $700 to $800 billion consumer grocery world. But like many things with Amazon, the end game may be something different.

The battle between Amazon and Walmart took another turn when Amazon announced it would begin offering discounted Prime memberships to those on U.S. government assistance. That could pull shoppers, and freight, from Walmart. 

While in-store sales have been declining in recent years, retail sales as a whole have not due to growth in e-commerce. That is resulting in a shift in freight movement, with more heading to a growing number of distribution centers and less heading to brick-and-mortar stores.

There has been a narrative in the U.S. that retail is dying a quick death. The reality is that is just not true. So far in 2017, there have been nearly as many store openings announced as store closings. This FreightWaves infographic details some of the trends in retail and how trucking is responding.

E-commerce is forcing radical changes on the world of freight, led by innovations from Amazon. From shorter lengths of haul to equipment changes, carriers and shippers are scrambling to stay in front of the changes.