Recent assessments suggest that the cost of transporting a container of goods has increased by up to 17%, and there has never been more demand for warehouse space, with the UK, Singapore and the Netherlands – key logistics hubs – reporting above 95% occupancy rates. When logistics costs are increasing, cost-optimisation can change a business’s profit ratio substantially for the better.
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“We are all ecommerce businesses now.” Well, maybe not all of us, but most businesses are now – to some extent – learning how to accommodate the demands of e-commerce: eBay and Amazon might have led the way but the pandemic drove every possible business in the direction of ecommerce and many are finding that they can’t, or don’t want to, reverse the process.
In a nutshell, e-commerce fulfilment is the process of receiving an order over the internet and delivering it to your customer efficiently. The various stages of this process all up to … Read More
When we talk about optimising pick and pack, we’re really looking at overcoming challenges to efficient pick and pack processes. Those challenges are:
These are two slightly different problems. Inaccurate inventory leads to confusion about what is available, whilst inadequate inventory is a failure to manage stocks into the warehouse space to allow for order fulfilment. The first is usually a problem of data entry, where stock records haven’t been updated or entered correctly, the second is a management failure which can be the result of poor data but can also be part of … Read More
Picking and pack is one of the simplest warehousing processes to understand – it’s the action of taking a customer’s orders from storage and placing them into a shipping box. The shipping box has obviated the need to pick orders and then process them in a variety of ways (box, envelope, pallet etc). Instead, many smaller businesses simply pick and pack in a single process, padding out larger shipping boxes with dunnage to ensure the goods won’t rattle around. Larger businesses may have a dedicated area of their warehouse space that they use to do ‘specialist pack’ which is where … Read More
We think that the Brexit withdrawal agreement should be high on everyone’s agendas in the UK – whether you trade between the UK and the EU or not – because the impacts of the agreement (or lack of) will far exceed just those directly involved…and here’s why.
The Daily Telegraph reports that one in every five pounds spent in UK shops is now online.
New data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) shows online sales rose by 15.3 per cent over the past year and now make up a record high of 18.2 per cent of all retail sales. This is up from 2013 when one pound in every ten was spent online. Katie Morley, the Consumer Affairs Editor emphasises that:
“In particular shoppers are avoiding ‘dusty old department stores’ and shopping on their computers and phones instead, experts said, as they saw online sales rise … Read More
Whichwarehouse is aware that in a marketplace that is increasingly globalised and interconnected, the way fresh fruit and vegetables are carried from origin to destination is changing. The expansion of online distribution integrating New Distribution Hubs (temperature controlled warehouses), is at the heart of this food ecommerce innovation.
The supply chain itself is in a continual state of flux, shaped and re-shaped by the emergence of new markets and shifting patterns of consumer demand. Distributors are rising to these challenges and aided by technological advances are improving their efficiency.… Read More
Southampton is the UK’s busiest vehicle handling port and Europe’s foremost turnaround cruise port, contributing £2 billion to the UK economy every year. Less that two miles from the M27, and with direct rail links to the UK railway network it is also served by Southampton International Airport.
The port is also a substantial container gateway and its routes to Asia are about to be improved with a new service from Hyundai Merchant Marine (HMM) that offers a round trip route comprising Pusan-Shanghai-Ningbo-Kaohsiung-Shenzhen-Singapore-Colombo-Rotterdam-Hamburg-Southampton-Singapore-Hong Kong-Pusan. Whilst the service will comprise a mere … Read More
Reverse logistics might not be a phrase that trips off the tongues of the management team of the average British, small and medium enterprises (SME) retailer, but it’s a growing area of concern, especially with the influence of Black Friday and other American shopping trends that increasingly impact the UK marketplace.
Most of us are familiar with traditional logistics ie the process of planning and controlling a cost-effective movement of raw materials, manufacturing processes, finished goods and information to the consumer. Reverse logistics is defined as the process of planning, controlling and managing the cost-effective flow … Read More
On 11th January 2018 the Secretary of State for Transport took part in a ceremony to launch the next phase of expansion at Hutchison Ports, Felixstowe.
For fifty years the port has been central to the UK’s import/export market, and the new developments are designed to keep the port abreast of the latest logistics trends.… Read More