Cost to serve news

The UK’s fourth largest supermarket, WM Morrison Supermarkets plc, is adding 150 innovative trailers to its fleet, designed in conjunction with Tiger Trailers. ‘more products, fewer miles’ While Morrisons has historically used temperature-controlled box van trailers for most of its UK store deliveries, it identified that ambient moving double deck trailers could increase both efficiency and...

As we look to help you save precious time, we pick out some key insight from our most viewed reports of November. The most popular reports are linked to cost and profitability. This isn’t surprising given the challenges the industry is facing with the shift to online and the COVID-19 response. Here is a list of the four most popular reports: Online grocery profitability (part 1): in-sto...

Ocado has acquired San Francisco-headquartered robotics firm Kindred Systems for $262 million and Las Vegas-based firm Haddington Dynamics for $25 million as it looks to improve efficiency in its customer fulfilment centres (CFCs). Enhancing robotic picking capabilities The acquisition will help Ocado to solve one of the world’s most difficult challenges in robotics, the picking and packing...

Sobeys has launched its Voilà by Sobeys grocery ecommerce service in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). Partnership with Ocado Sobeys has partnered with UK-based Ocado to launch this service. It has built a Customer Fulfilment Centre (CFC) adjacent to its existing automated distribution centre in Vaughan, Ontario, optimising Ocado’s solution. Robots are used to assemble orders, with Voilà asso...

The rapid growth in ecommerce penetration has been one of the defining features of the coronavirus pandemic. Faced with increasing demand, retailers have been looking at temporary and longer-term solutions to boost capacity.  We recently sat down with the co-founders of Takeoff Technologies, one of the leading firms in the online grocery hyperlocal, automated micro-fulfillment space. We discussed...

Target has outlined the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the business, including its sales performance and store development plans. Surge in sales and traffic Target started to see a shift in sales in the fourth week of February, with an increase in traffic and comparable store sales. Starting in mid-March, the surge in traffic and sales became stronger, concentrated in the ...

Following rising food waste levels, M&S is due to roll out a new supply chain system across its store estate in 2020. ‘Vanguard’ The new system, called ‘Vanguard’, has been introduced last year as a trial, while being in 90 stores now, and is expected to tackle food waste issues and its associated costs. Although food revenues in the weeks leading to Christmas have been up, “disappointin...

French retailer Carrefour announced the acquisition of Dejbox, a start-up that provides lunch delivery service to office workers. About Dejbox Founded in 2015 by two entrepreneurs, Dejbox is an online canteen for office workers. Essentially, employees can order their lunch online, for the cost of a restaurant voucher (ranging from €5.90 to €8.90) and have it delivered to their workplace wit...

Amazon is set to increase the fees it charges merchants in the US from February 2020. Logistical investment In February this year, Amazon has announced it will raise the fees it charges its sellers. The online retailer said that in 2019, it invested more than $15bn in infrastructure, people, and programmes, including its Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) service. 150 new tools and services were al...

Flipkart, India’s largest online retailer, and its parent company Walmart have announced a joint investment in Bengaluru-based fresh produce supply chain management company Ninjacart. Strengthening direct sourcing of fresh produce The new partnership will bolster direct sourcing of fresh produce for Walmart India’s Best Price Modern Wholesale stores and Flipkart’s online grocery arm Flipkar...