With the implementation of intelligent and mobile picking robots, ASICS is one of the innovative pioneers in the industry. The continuing growth in e‑commerce and ever smaller batch sizes require automation solutions that can be flexibly adapted and scaled as required. The mobile picking robot TORU works completely autonomously with the help of 3D-camera technology, numerous sensors and can operate both at weekends and at night. TORU reduces the typical order peaks in e‑commerce and improves customer service by providing faster processing of urgent orders.

Managing inventory is among the most critical tasks of an ecommerce company. Poorly managed, inventory costs can escalate, and profits erode. In this post, I’ll review five tactics of high-performing, multichannel sellers that greatly lower inventory costs while streamlining operations.

The roots of robotics in human society is commonly acknowledged to date back centuries prior, to classical cultures like Greek mythology and the golems of Jewish tradition.

Easy for humans to do, yes, but not so enjoyable in practice. Loading or unloading hundreds of heavy boxes, often in extreme temperatures, makes the loading dock an area of high employee turnover for many operations—and a prime driver of what Criswell and others describe as a steadily growing interest in robotic truck loading and unloading solutions. DC Velocity asked industry experts to weigh in on where the technology stands today and what may be holding it back from widespread adoption. They identified three key challenges.

Overall productivity in many ecommerce fulfillment centers has remained flat over the years in many companies. After factoring in the increasing labor rates, productivity in terms of labor dollars has declined. To help you out, here are 10 ways to improve productivity:

Under pressure from online sales, retail logistics is mired by inefficiencies, high costs, and driver shortages.

Hidden behind a store in southern New Hampshire, Walmart Inc.’s latest weapon in its food fight against Amazon.com Inc. is now fully operational.

A manufacturer that saves money on labor by using automation can increase investments and demand and create more opportunities for employment. Factory floor workers can manage tasks that require skills that automation cannot replicate, leading to further innovation.

About a year and a half ago, longtime patrons of the pioneering grocery delivery service FreshDirect started complaining that orders were arriving hours late. There were broken eggs and spoiled fruit. One customer reported that she had paid $200 for groceries — only to receive nothing but seltzer and a loaf of bread.

The source of the problems was FreshDirect’s multimillion-dollar distribution center with nine miles of conveyor belts that the company opened in the summer of 2018 after moving out of a smaller facility in the Long Island City section of Queens. A complex automated system was creating confusion on the floor of the new warehouse, resulting in canceled orders, missing items, and long waits.

As many news outlets have recently reported, Amazon is on the verge of launching a brand new grocery concept that appears on the surface to be just an everyday store, except that it’s not. Based on floorplans obtained from the City of Los Angeles that were provided by Amazon Retail LLC to designate exactly where it plans to sell alcohol within its new Woodland Hills, CA location as well as firsthand accounts from visitors, HNGRY has uncovered that the company has built a small-scale, robot-powered version of its retail store that surrounds a hidden perimeter of the store. The permits state hours of operation from 6am until 2am, which would imply on-demand delivery, enabling Amazon to leverage its best in class data about what consumers crave to deliver it with unprecedented speed and efficiency.

Target has essentially opted to run Shipt as its own company rather than making it a part of the parent brand. That's smart for building the value of the shipping company. It may make sense because even if Target kept Shipt's services for itself, the companies that have partnered with the delivery company would just turn to other players in the shipping space.

"Our vision at Shipt is to deliver the products consumers need so that they can spend their time doing what matters most," said Shipt CEO Kelly Caruso in a press release. "With Office Depot, we're now able to serve more people in more ways -- from the local business owner, to the schoolteacher, to the work-from-home mom or dad. We're in the midst of an exciting evolution to a multi-vertical, multi-retailer delivery service and are thrilled to have Office Depot as part of the Shipt family."

Big Y Foods has partnered with Takeoff Technologies to build an automated micro-fulfillment center (MFC) to support its online grocery business.

The robotics-powered facility, which will fill delivery orders, will abut the Big Y grocery store in Chicopee, Mass., according to Claire D’Amour-Daley, vice president of corporate communications. Though construction hasn’t started yet and no opening date has been set, the Takeoff MFC is expected to go into operation in about six months, she said.

Amazon’s new building to be constructed will have an estimated 850,000-square-foot foundation. Add in four stories of space and there's roughly 4 million square feet of room in the huge center planned. It could be the biggest one the company has ever built.

The company has kept construction inside the store firmly under wraps, and, until now, no one has peeked in on Amazon’s latest plan to upend how food is sold. Based on never-before-seen photos of the facility at 6245 Topanga Canyon Blvd., as well as planning documents filed with the city, the store looks remarkably conventional—with a few Amazon-style flourishes.

Numbered aisles await staples like rice, beans, pasta and canned vegetables; waist-high coolers sit between some shelves. In the back of the 33,000-square-foot space, which is about average size for a supermarket, a meat and seafood counter sits in one corner. In the other, there’s an area called “Fresh Kitchen” for prepared foods and soups. The new chain makes it possible for Amazon to stock and sell the high-volume products that the purists at Whole Foods won’t touch—things like Coca-Cola, Smucker’s jam and Tide detergent.

At the center of the store, long aisles of conventional-looking shelves appear to carry the digital tags that the company uses in its Amazon Books and 4-Star stores, which let the retailer quickly circulate inventory and change prices. But Amazon has said the new supermarket will not be equipped with the cashierless system from its Go convenience stores.

Today’s customer is always connected and can research and order products and services at any time, on any device at the click of a button. This requires an omni-channel sales strategy to enable your customers to buy or subscribe to your products on their terms.

Drest is like paper dolls on algorithms: The user experiences clothes in the virtual world while brands peek at players’ experiences—though what Yeomans hopes distinguishes Drest is the philanthropy wrapped around its tech core: You will be able to donate from within the game to Elbi, the charity platform Natalia Vodianova launched in 2018 with a former Google exec. (Via Elbi, Drest clicks will also contribute to the Elephant Crisis Fund that Doutzen Kroes supports or to She’s the First, the Imaan Hammam–supported organization that fights for gender equality for girls around the world.) “Drest is not just what you wear—it’s what you stand for,” says Yeomans. “We wanted to make something that showcases the best of fashion—the creativity, the philanthropy, the inclusivity.”

Take a look inside Amazon-owned Whole Foods' newest store, with self-pour beers and a fresh-cut-pasta bar.

Retailing has been forced into a transformation over the past decade. And some retail stocks, once dogged by fear of those changes, have become attractive buys once again.

The rise of Amazon.com and internet commerce has thinned the herd and continue to pick off stragglers. But several of the chains that continue to survive are premium or otherwise sought-out destinations that demand your attention.

Some retailers are no longer just retailers, but manufacturers. They have increasing control over both their supply chains and what consumers pay. Others don't just sell goods, but lifestyles, experiences, journeys. Many are not just conduits for other brands – they're brands themselves.