Supply Chain

Retailers are moving fast on artificial intelligence. Research from Eversheds Sutherland and Retail Economics suggests that around nine in 10 retail decision-makers are exploring AI agents, and roughly a third are already deploying them in areas like chatbots, forecasting, and personalization. Yet the majority of leaders still report limited returns from those efforts. The issue…

Products from Ace Hardware are now available on Uber Eats nationwide as the hardware cooperative becomes the latest retailer to dive into on-demand delivery services and Uber Eats works to recast itself from the "Eats" part of its brand. The two companies announced the partnership Tuesday, saying it would allow customers who already shop locally…

A brand posts a TikTok video about its new perfume and watches it take off overnight. Thousands of orders pour in and it looks like the breakthrough every founder works towards. Then the fulfillment team realizes there’s an issue. Orders are open to both domestic and international buyers, but shipping the product overseas will cost…

Artificial intelligence (AI) is no longer a theoretical line item in retail supply chain and fulfillment discussions. It's real, it's advancing rapidly, and it's fundamentally reshaping how retailers forecast demand, manage inventory, and deliver to customers. From automated decision-making to advanced recommendation engines, the technological landscape is evolving quickly. Yet, as these systems become more…

Retail and consumer packaged goods (RCPG) companies have entered a definitive phase where operational precision is no longer a competitive advantage but the baseline for survival. In 2026, the industry is grappling with a stark consumer polarization. On one side, a value-seeking segment is trading down and scrutinizing every penny; on the other, a premium…

U.S. e-commerce was projected to hit $1.3 trillion last year, climbing toward $1.8 trillion by 2029. Behind those impressive figures lies a cost crisis most retailers aren’t prepared for: shipping expenses that compound annually, erode margins silently, and destabilize financial forecasting. Major carriers like UPS and FedEx implemented 5.9 percent general rate increases (GRIs) for…

Increasingly, shoppers aren’t beginning their journey on a retailer’s website. Instead, they’re asking ChatGPT what to buy. They’re scrolling TikTok Shop. They’re clicking marketplace recommendations. According to Gartner, by the end of 2026, traditional search engine volume is expected to decline by 25 percent as consumers shift toward artificial intelligence chatbots and other virtual agents…

Retailers use modern integration platforms to connect diverse platforms for digital commerce, store fulfillment, supplier networks, and last-minute delivery to keep up with customer expectations. The payoff is speed and flexibility across the business-to-business (B2B) supply chain. The downside? A growing share of failures now occurs in the handoffs between these platforms rather than within…

Analyze the structure of any retail organization and you’ll find multiple groups that influence the same outcome yet rarely operate as one system. Merchandising manages the margin at the point of purchase. Operations manages labor and daily execution. Facilities manages the environment that keeps products available and stores functioning. And supply chain is responsible for…

Retail supply chains have become inheritors of upstream volatility. When manufacturers rank trade uncertainty as a top concern and project rising input costs, retailers absorb the impact through pricing instability, supply variability, and compressed margins. These pressures require response cycles measured in hours, not days. Yet many retailers remain constrained by fragmented systems and disconnected…