Chain links: What we're reading this week
Mobile technology works for truckers. The high-stakes world of the Amazon marketplace. And Target gets buys investing in its supply chain
Mobile technology is making it easier than ever for truckers to find profitable loads and keep more of their income by dis-intermediating middlemen, the Economist writes
Source: The Economist
Target Corp. to invest $2 billion annually in supply chain
Target Corp. will launch a campaign in 2017 to spend $2 billion to $2.5 billion per year in a race to upgrade its supply chain and technology infrastructure. CEO Brian Cornell revealed the plan in a briefing with analysts last week, blaming the firm’s "incredibly complex supply chain" for lower sales in 2015.
Source: Reuters
Pharmapacks, an e-commerce health and beauty retailer, expects to do $140 million in revenue in 2016. Nearly half of that will come from Amazon Marketplace, where, in order to maintain a visible presence on product pages, the company has to resolve customer complaints, outprice the competition, and back it all up with an agile, efficient warehousing and distribution operation that sometimes relies on alternate source suppliers for inventory.
Source: Inc. Magazine
STB looking to prioritize freight rails over Amtrak: The Hill
The U.S. Surface Transportation Board is moving to invalidate a federal mandate that requires freight railroads to give preference to Amtrak on tracks that are shared between passenger and freight trains. The STB has said the mandate to prioritize passenger trains was not spelled out in federal law, although it has been enforced since Amtrak was established in the 1970s.
Source: The Hill
Amazon to open second brick-and-mortar bookstore
Amazon plans to open its second brick-and-mortar store in the coming months, adding a location at San Diego’s Westfield UTC mall to the retailer’s first storefront location in Seattle. Amazon has already hung signs on the building and posted job openings for managers, booksellers and “device enthusiasts.”
Source: San Diego Union Tribune
China to heavily promote logistics sector over next five years
China will promote the development of its logistics sector in the next five years to bolster economic growth and deepen supply-side reform. More innovative policies will be unveiled during 2016-2020 to lower taxes and reduce cost in the logistics sector, said the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC).
Source: Hinxua News Agency
U.K. e-commerce growth hampered by dearth of warehouse space
E-commerce growth in the U.K. could be affected by a lack of warehouse space to handle fulfillment and deliveries
Source: Logistic Manager