Freight Costs
Transportation Turmoil
Just when you thought things couldn’t get any worse, shipping packages becomes a little more uncertain. Certain events are adding confusion to an already unsettling situation. With outbound freight costs representing 6 – 8 % of sales and inbound another 2 – 4 % for domestic and 6 -12 % for imported product, changes to [...]
Escalate Retail Delivers Landed Cost Capabilities
In a recent press release, Escalate Retail has landed a beta site for its newest release. And it’s the direction the application has taken that will really allow multi channel businesses to reach peak efficiency and profitability. Here is an excerpt and one of the most important pieces of the press release:
San Diego – July [...]
“SORRY FOR THE DELAY – THANK YOU FOR WAITING”
I just had a pleasant experience with a back order from L.L. Bean. How can you have a good experience with something that’s been on backorder for 6 weeks? Well let me tell how.
First the background. On April 1st, I ordered 5 pairs of chino pants and 1 was on backorder. The CSR told me [...]
Ways to Save Money
The following is a brief email that we received from one of our eNewsletter readers, in response to an article we wrote about saving money in your company…
Curt:
Just received your electronic May newsletter and wanted to send you some ways we are saving money.
Cut utility usage
Drop non productive associates
Reduce fulfillment goals from 92% to 85%
Keep [...]
ACCM Tidbits and Opinions
ACCM Attendance: The show had about 500-700 attendees from what I could tell. Like many of the shows we have attended this year the number of attendance looked to be down 50% to 80% from prior years. Penton took a bath on both NCOF and ACCM this year. There is a question in my [...]
15 Ways to Reduce Warehouse Expenses
As it appeared in Catalog Success Magazine written by Paul Miller
At the recent NCOF, Curt Barry, president of Richmond, VA-based multichannel operations & fulfillment consultancy F. Curtis Barry & Company, presented “15 Ways to Reduce Warehouse Expenses.” Here is a summary:
Efficient receiving. Inventory accuracy and product flow through the warehouse all start with receiving. The [...]
How to Make Vendor Compliance Programs Work For You
Of all the strategies for reducing costs in your catalog business, vendor compliance programs may be the most underdeveloped. A well-thought-out, formal vendor compliance policy can reduce warehousing and freight costs, speed up order processing, and lead directly to increased customer satisfaction. In order to achieve this it must spell out your requirements and the charge-backs [...]
Free shipping strategies: Merchants weigh in
Multichannel marketers consider their free shipping offers to be highly strategic and competitive. So when operations consultancy F. Curtis Barry & Company interviewed dozens of direct merchants about their free shipping strategies used this past fall/holiday 2008, few wanted to be quoted directly.
But catalogers and Web retailers have plenty to say on the hot topic [...]
Free Shipping: A Database Marketing Perspective
Virtually every bit of advertising and promotional material produced by multichannel companies during the holiday season has contained a common phrase: FREE SHIPPING. In preparation for an article that will appear in the February issue of Multichannel Merchant, we tracked hundreds of promotions that arrived in our postal and e-mail mailboxes from August through December, [...]
Catalogers Get Small Postal Increase!
Who do catalogers have to thank for the relatively slight postal rate increase announced yesterday? The American Catalog Mailers Association (ACMA), Hamilton Davidson, ACMA’s Executive Director and their Board of Directors.
Davidson’s initial assessment is that catalogs got a 1% lower increase than levied on other mailers. The average increase in Standard Mail Flat’s is 2.3% [...]
