Inbound Logistics | March 2023

CHECKINGIN

Vol. 43, No. 3 March 2023 THE MAGAZINE FOR DEMAND-DRIVEN ENTERPRISES www.inboundlogistics.com

Gettin’ Giggy With It

STAFF PUBLISHER Keith G. Biondo

publisher@inboundlogistics.com

T he gig economy’s impact on last-mile delivery and fulllment expectations has not gone unnoticed by the retail and e-commerce behemoths. Acknowledging that impact, investment activity is spinning up this year. It seems odd but, despite nely tuned distribution systems, e-commerce leaders now feel they have to add to their “legacy” fulllment infrastructure, technology, and expertise with last-mile buildouts designed to be 2023-competitive.

EDITOR Felecia J. Stratton

editor@inboundlogistics.com

SENIOR EDITOR Katrina C. Arabe

karabe@inboundlogistics.com

MANAGING EDITOR Robert Fee

rfee@inboundlogistics.com

CONTRIBUTING EDITORS Merrill Douglas • Karen M. Kroll Richard Osborne • Debra Phillips

CREATIVE DIRECTOR Jeof Vita

jvita@inboundlogistics.com

Keith Biondo, Publisher

DESIGNER Nicole Estep

nicole@inboundlogistics.com Amy Palmisano apalmisano@inboundlogistics.com

How? By building out the concept of Fulllment-as-a-Service (FaaS) as a brand enhancement for their current and future vendors, in the hopes of blunting more share gains by small and mid-sized sellers. Last-mile guaranteed delivery windows offered by a growing group of gig nal-mile solutions providers are empowering a pool of newer and smaller e-commerce companies, offering them the ability to side-step existing excellent Amazonian and Walmartian delivery expertise. A Prime example of this trend is the Shopify and Flexport/Deliverr mash-up with its hopes of a solid offering of guaranteed delivery windows, usually within two days. Beyond mashups, segment leaders are slapping on more than add-ons. Sam’s Club recently announced a weighty ve-year buildout plan to expand and add 16 e-commerce fulllment centers. Why? You guessed it—to compete with Amazon and expected delivery experience changes wrought and brought by new e-commerce sellers using fast, cheaper gig delivery services. Low-cost delivery tracking technology and delivery performance metrics à la Uber, combined with dramatic shifts in consumer buying habits and young consumer culture, also drive this investment. SMB retailers and e-commerce companies have nailed down the click-to-sale. But meeting new age consumer delivery expectations without breaking the nal-mile bank is crucial. Even large e-commerce companies like Chinese-owned Temu are concerned with doorstep performance. Temu is currently offering a $5 bounty on any missed delivery window in the States. All this concern partially explains the growth of gig and gig hybrid nal-mile delivery solutions such as Uber and new entrants like AxleHire and DutchX. For the e-commerce giants—Walmart, Amazon, Shopify, Temu—there’s more than money to be made. They plan to grow their market share if they can stave off all the second-tier e-commerce companies and the hordes of new gig-delivery empowered entrants using ultra-fast delivery as a brand builder with vendors and customers. That’s why everyone is gettin’ Giggy with it.

DIGITAL DESIGN MANAGER

PUBLICATION MANAGER Sonia Casiano

sonia@inboundlogistics.com

CIRCULATION DIRECTOR Carolyn Smolin

SALES OFFICES PUBLISHER: Keith Biondo

212-629-1560 ¨ FAX: 212-629-1565 publisher@inboundlogistics.com WEST/MIDWEST/SOUTHWEST: Harold L. Leddy

847-446-8764 ¨ FAX: 847-305-5890 haroldleddy@inboundlogistics.com Marshall Leddy

612-234-7436 ¨ FAX: 847-305-5890 marshall@inboundlogistics.com DIRECTOR, NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT & MARKETING, SOUTHEAST/MIDWEST/ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT:

Joseph Biondo 516-578-8924 jbiondo@inboundlogistics.com NORTHEAST: Rachael Sprinz 212-629-1562 ¨ FAX: 212-629-1565 rachael@inboundlogistics.com MEXICO & LATAM: Guillermo Almazo 212-629-1560 mexico@inboundlogistics.com FREE SUBSCRIPTIONS www.inboundlogistics.com/free

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6 Inbound Logistics • March 2023