For decades, companies have relied on warehouse management systems (WMS) to control inventory and material handling processes within their warehouses. Historically, retail distribution centers have been built upon plans that included predetermined transportation routes that outlined the number of stores on a route, what product those stores would get and the quantity and configuration of those products. Consequently, distribution centers have had similar designs, process methodologies and IT infrastructures for years. E-commerce has changed the game, though.

More than two-thirds of consumers who have ever made a domestic online purchase have also made an online purchase from another country in the past year, according to an annual online shopping survey by Pitney Bowes, an e-commerce technology company. Singapore (89 percent), Australia (86 percent) and Hong Kong (85 percent) have the highest number of cross-border shoppers, while countries like Japan (34 percent) and the U.S. (45 percent) are still growing in cross-border confidence.

Many retailers struggle with balancing their brick-and-mortar business with e-commerce, but warehouse automation and Big Data are there to help.

First-time exporters in the U.S. understandably find Canada to be an attractive market, but cross-border trade between the two is far from simple.