Lou Conforti sees no reason why a shopping mall can’t contain both traditional brick-and-mortar stores and last-mile fulfillment operations for online purchases.
The coronavirus pandemic has led to severe shortages of personal protective equipment (PPE) needed to protect Americans from the disease. The crisis has revealed an overreliance on imported supplies, particularly from China.
Consumers who were compelled to switch to e-commerce shopping during the height of the lockdown will likely be inclined to conduct a majority of their peak holiday shopping online.
Transportation management systems will play an increasingly important role in mitigating the challenges brought by e-commerce, according to a group of more than 350 shippers.
Rohan Thambrahalli, chief executive officer of UpstartWorks, explains how direct fulfillment can serve as a valuable alternative to traditional means of shipping online purchases to customers, especially with the coming of the peak shopping season.
Every year around this time, carriers, distributors and logistics providers gear up for the coming peak holiday shopping season, on which shippers depend for a large portion of their annual revenue. This year, however, is different, thanks to the coronavirus pandemic and resulting economic freefall.
With total vessel capacity expected to reach an all-time high in 2020, companies at every port and shipping nexus are beginning to re-evaluate longstanding business processes.