In order to meet these ever-changing
expectations, supply chains are having
to be increasingly flexible and agile,”
said CH Robinson’s Matt Castle.
Consumers are looking for their
products that they love, to be where
they want them, when they want
them there and for a price they are
willing to pay.
The omnichannel route is gaining
traction and is actually seen as a
successor of multichannel retail.
Retailers will continue to meet consumer demand by making products
available through an increasingly
seamless online and brick-and-mortar retail experience. The key to
doing this successfully is optimized
logistics, better known as omnichannel. “At UPS, we guide our customers
through developing and consistently
providing a seamless omnichannel
experience,” said Louis DeJianne, director for apparel, consumer goods
and retail at UPS.
One strategy is to use brick-andmortar retail locations as miniwarehouses. Depending on the
consumer’s buying preference for a
particular item, our customers can
shift inventory to fulfill an online or
in-store order from a warehouse or
another retail location. The result is
a more efficient experience for both
the consumer and the retailer.
Another strategy is to incorporate additive manufacturing, or 3D
Printing, into the supply chain. UPS
has a relationship with 3D Printing
company Fast Radius, which has
an end of runway facilitate at UPS’
Worldport operation in Louisville.
Fast Radius now will open a 3D
printing factory at a UPS facility in
Singapore, expanding the UPS ondemand 3D printing network to Asia
and enabling customers to increase
their supply chain efficiency with
additive manufacturing.
Online shoppers often select the
least expensive shipping option.
However, they also look for visibility,
flexibility and control over when and
where their packages are delivered.
To succeed in today’s dynamic retail
environment, multichannel retailers are using
their brick-and-mortar stores to reduce delivery time and cost. UPS works with retailers to
develop end-to-end supply chain strategies
that optimize their resources. Some examples include the UPS My Choice, which gives
consumers more control over where and how
they receive residential deliveries, and the UPS
Access Point network, which offers convenient delivery through more than 24,000 local
retailers and delivery lockers in North America
and Europe.
What the future holds
E-commerce indeed is an exciting new
opportunity in the logistics business. But
logistics companies seem confident that ecommerce isn't the make-or-break business
for their future profits. While companies like
Amazon.com and Alibaba will continue to
shape our shopping experiences and habits,
players like Fedex, UPS, DHL among others
wi