With online holiday shopping in full swing the issue of ‘package optimization’ becomes a hot topic. It’s of particular concern for those companies who are unfortunately facing order returns, damaged goods and worse, dissatisfied customers. “Packaging strategies”, according to UPS vice president of Customer Solutions, Scott Mc Carley, “can have a pretty dramatic impact on […]
Doing Business in the U.S.A. Successful international business expansion to the United States hinges on thoughtful, well informed pre-planning and reliable cross-border partnerships. Domestic and foreign accountants, immigration and business lawyers, customs brokers and logistics (marketing, warehousing, order fulfillment and distribution) specialists all play key roles in a Canadian company’s export success into the U.S.A. […]
Evolving beyond ‘multi-channel retailing’, omnichannel is all about creating ‘a seamless consumer experience’ and is being called ‘the future of retail’. A recent survey from the Harvard Business Review states omnichannel consumers are “shoppers who engage with retailers across multiple touchpoints” adding “[they] are driving boosts in conversion rates both online and offline” making them one […]
UPS reports high volumes of ‘holiday returns’ following 2016’s ‘unprecedented volume of online sales’. E-Commerce returns present new challenges for sellers but in particular for Canadian e-commerce companies selling to U.S. consumers. Even for U.S. e-commerce retailers it’s a struggle to find balance between often unanticipated reverse logistics costs and satisfying their customers’ high expectations […]
Attributed to the overwhelming increase in e-commerce holiday orders, UPS has hailed January 5th ‘National Returns Day’ because of the volume of product returns it manages during the first week of January – in particular on the 5th. Ecommerce is on the rise and it’s not only putting increased pressure on shipping couriers like FedEx […]
U.S. Thanksgiving, Black Friday and Cyber Monday mark the official beginning of America’s holiday shopping season and with it comes what we in supply chain management refer to as reverse logistics – better known as returns! Based on data from the U.S. Commerce Department, online sales represent 11% of 2016 retail sales and are expected […]
By: Jim Pettinger, President of UCanTrade, Inc. According to a recent article in Inbound Logistics magazine, “Some 80 percent of all U.S. commerce is carried on pallets, making them an indispensable part of nearly every supply chain.” They estimate there are over 2 billion pallets circulating around the United States of all sizes and makeup. […]
By: Jim Pettinger, President of UCanTrade, Inc. In recent years, most “big box” retailers have followed Walmart’s lead by introducing “Vendor Compliance” programs. While understandable due to the huge volume of goods being received, the practice has also come under criticism for becoming a “revenue stream” rather than a reasonable business practice. Typical reasons for […]
“Canadian companies want to consolidate several small shipments into a larger one to minimize customs clearance costs,” says Jim Pettinger, UCanTrade, Inc.’s president and CEO. “This is where UCanTrade can step in and provide cross docking services and work in conjunction with our client’s U.S. Customs Broker to expedite this process at a low cost.” […]
According to UPS, January 6th is officially ‘National Returns Day’. The global shipping giant reportedly expects to handle approximately 5 million package returns by the end of the first week in January with over a million consumer returns on January 6th alone! With online shopping exponentially increasing each year, particularly during the holiday season, e-commerce […]