Brian Olsavsky

2024 is already faster than 2023 ⏩ On yesterdays Amazon's earnings call Andy Jassy commented again on how they are making Prime faster. "In this past Q1, we delivered to Prime members at our fastest speeds ever. In March, across our top 60 largest US metro areas, nearly 60% of Prime members orders arrived the same or next day. Faster delivery times have another important effect. As we get items to customers this fast, customers choose Amazon to fulfill their shopping needs more frequently, and we can see the results in various areas, including how fast our everyday essentials business is growing and the continued increase in Prime member purchase frequency and total spend with us." This is why consumers abandon cart when they see a 4-7 business day delivery SLA when shopping off Amazon. Why wait over a week for something I can buy for the same price on Amazon and get it today or tomorrow? Doug Herrington (Amazon Stores CEO) talks more about their obsession with faster delivery in this video 📽

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Compared to double-digit year-over-year increases in other retail-related revenue streams, Amazon’s Q1 retail sales growth was relatively subdued: Net sales at its online store rose 7% to $54.7 billion and at physical stores rose 6.3% to $5.2 billion. #retailsales #amazon #omnichannelretail

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We've heard a lot about Chinese sellers in the e-commerce marketplace, such as Temu and SHEIN. Now Walmart is helping Indian sellers be introduced to the global e-commerce market. How long before an Indian seller as big as Temu or SHEIN unveils itself on the global stage? How are you competing against these global sellers in an increasingly competitive market? #ecommerce #worldcompetition #itsaglobalmarket

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Food ordering and delivery marketplace Grubhub and Mercato, an online platform for independent grocery stores, have joined forces to bring Mercato’s inventory of 950-plus retailers across the United States to the Grubhub Marketplace. Customers can now order from hundreds of locations, with all retailers becoming available over the next few weeks. Through this first-ever third-party delivery partnership for Mercato, Grubhub is growing its Marketplace selection to offer grocery, convenience and alcohol retailers. Meanwhile, Mercato’s retailers can increase their business and e-commerce footprint with access to Grubhub’s millions of customers through the partnership. Mercato’s retailer partners span 38 states and 320-plus cities, including such major markets as New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Philadelphia and Boston. | Progressive Grocer https://lnkd.in/gWiAQn7c #retail #supermarkets #grocery #ecommerce #grocerydelivery #food

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Amazon Fresh focused on technology-driven features but overlooked basic grocery retailing principles. The grocery brand is integrating traditional grocery merchandising practices into its stores. Amazon Fresh is adding 3,000 grocery products to address assortment gaps. The company plans to update stores across eight states and Washington, D.C., and open new stores next year. The store refresh effort aims to prioritize the grocery shopping experience and balance technology with merchandising. Amazon is determined to succeed in grocery retail despite challenges faced by its physical retail efforts. The updated Amazon Fresh stores have a softer aesthetic, enhanced lighting, and more prepared foods. Amazon Fresh aims to become a frequent grocery destination for consumers. The updated stores have received positive feedback for their visual merchandising and welcoming environment. Some consumers may be hesitant to trust Amazon as a grocer due to lack of cohesion between its physical stores, online shopping, and third-party services. Amazon is working on improving its online services and developing a "unified cart" initiative. #amazonfresh #grocery #technology #customerexperience

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Amazon continuing its test & learn strategy to expand its grocery business. Also noteworthy is that it includes grocery retailers on Amazon.com, not just its own grocery ( continuing to build an ecosystem and offer more to customers) Excerpts: Dive Brief: Amazon announced Tuesday a new grocery subscription available to Prime members and customers using EBT. The subscription, which costs $9.99 per month for Prime members and $4.99 per month for non-Prime members with an EBT card, provides free grocery delivery on orders over $35 across Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and grocery retailers on Amazon.com such as Cardenas Markets and Save Mart.   The subscription adds to the string of changes Amazon is making to its grocery offerings as it looks to sharpen its presence as a grocer as well as bolster its Prime membership. Dive Insight: Amazon is positioning its new grocery subscription as a “low, monthly fee” that “pays for itself” after one delivery per month. “Our goal is to build a best-in-class grocery shopping experience — whether shopping in-store or online — where Amazon is the first choice for selection, value, and convenience,” Tony Hoggett, senior vice president of worldwide grocery stores at Amazon, said in an emailed statement. “We have many different customers with many different needs, and we want to save them time and money every time they shop for groceries.” Grocery delivery has been one area in particular that Amazon has grappled with recently. In January 2023, Amazon Fresh raised its threshold for free delivery to $150 but then 10 months later lowered that minimum to $100. A month later, Amazon said it started offering grocery delivery and free pickup to non-Prime members in all markets where its Amazon Fresh stores and online services operate, with plans to expand grocery delivery and free pickup from Whole Foods to shoppers who aren’t Prime members. #amazon #grocery #ecosystem

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Shipping and supply chain challenges persist post-pandemic. Retailers facing a 20% price hike from shipper-suppliers are caught between maintaining margins and retaining customers. Balancing costs and customer satisfaction is now a delicate dance for retailers in the current market landscape. #Shipping #SupplyChain #Retailers #BusinessChallenges

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Some great insights from this rare interview with Doug McMillon, Walmart's CEO. Here are my top 10: 💥 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞: "At the root of it all, though, it's a people business and it's a merchandising business. Today, it's increasingly a technology business. The supply chain is critical, of course, and real estate still plays a key role." 💥 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐝𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐡𝐞 𝐠𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐫𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬: "Don't take your current job for granted, the next job doesn't come if you don't do the one you've got well. The second piece of advice was be a great teammate... And then the third one was volunteer for something extra, volunteer for something hard." 💥 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐛𝐨𝐭𝐡 𝐢𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐬: "We've always thought that a blend was best, and there are probably times where that blend is 80/20 instead of 70/30, depending on the moment that we're in. But Sam Walton would bring in great people from the outside to help build the retail business." 💥 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐞𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐞-𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐛𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐤-𝐚𝐧𝐝-𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐫 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐬: "The e-commerce store is the interesting one. We've seen it all and done it all. We operate around the world in different formats, different brands. We've got large stores, small stores, all these different formats. So we know that space pretty well, but the e-commerce business was different." 💥 𝐎𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐭'𝐬 𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐮𝐠𝐠𝐥𝐞𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐞-𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐜𝐞: "There was a period of time when there was too much debate inside the company about the significance of e-commerce, there were leaders who believed it would never be any bigger than the catalog business, there were leaders that believed it would never be profitable." 💥 𝐎𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐨𝐦𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐥: "It's always been clear to me that this was an 'and' — there are going to be stores, there will be store curbside pickup, there will be delivery of various forms, there'll be stores and e-commerce." Continue in the comments... 👇 Thank you Karl Haller for sharing this!

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Amazon, Target, or Walmart: Who will win the #ShippingWar? In this latest revolution in last-mile #logistics, major retailers are competing to meet the increasing demands of customers for quicker and more accurate deliveries. Winning this challenge requires substantial investments in capital, cutting-edge technology, and an overhaul of existing processes. As retail logistics shift towards decentralization, the ability to make accurate predictions using artificial intelligence will be crucial for success. The second video in the "Shipping Wars" series, produced by The Wall Street Journal, delves deeply into Target’s strategy for fast delivery. From my perspective, this strategy does not appear to be a winning one. Why? Target is not investing significantly in technology, precision, and speed, and it has not effectively differentiated its traditional retail operations from its highly competitive and fast-paced e-commerce operations. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) Luiss Business School Luiss Guido Carli University Giuseppe F. Italiano Blerina Sinaimeri

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Walmart is emerging as a strong rival in the #ecommerce space, mirroring Amazon's success with smaller, frequent orders. Delivery or pickup? People seem to like delivery more! CFO John David Rainey highlights the rise in #delivery over #pickup, emphasizing the growing consumer demand for convenience. Additionally, #Walmart+ is a big success. W+ members shopping more frequently have significantly boosted the company's revenue. #Ecommerce #RetailTrends #Walmart #Amazon #ConsumerBehavior https://lnkd.in/g--hdUbt

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The Q1 2024 e-commerce supplement for retail trade just released, which incorporates new benchmarking from the 2022 Annual Retail Trade Survey. As such, I wanted to share some insights we can glean from this document. Two charts. Thoughts: •Top chart shows e-commerce sales as a percentage of total sales for retail trade excluding (i) motor vehicles & parts dealers and (ii) gasoline stations. I’ve seasonally adjusted the data using the 2018-2019 period. Q1 2023, assuming it holds, is specially as this is now the largest seasonally adjusted reading ever, even bypassing Q2 2020 during COVID-19 lockdowns. It’s also interesting to see that the e-commerce percentage seemed to restart an upward climb in Q1 2023 after having been neutral for an extended period. We are still 1.5 percentage points above where the pre-COVID trendline would have placed things. •Bottom chart shows e-commerce sales for (i) nonstore retailers (e.g., pure-play e-commerce firms) and (ii) brick-and-mortar retailers excluding motor vehicle & parts dealers. On a percentage basis, both series have grown almost perfectly in unison (relative to Q1 2018, nonstore e-commerce is up 113%, whereas brick-and-mortar e-commerce is up 99%). •I do wonder if continued penetration of Chinese e-commerce firms such as Temu will start to chip away at growth of domestic e-commerce, especially for nonstore retailers (e.g., is that Q1 2024 seasonally adjusted drop in the bottom chart a harbinger of things to come?). Implication: e-commerce continues its slow upward penetration in the retail space. Yet, brick-and-mortar retailers continue to account for more than 75% of retail trade excluding (i) motor vehicles & parts dealers and (ii) gasoline stations. #supplychain #supplychainmanagement #ecommerce #retail #freight #trucking

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Need for Speed! 💡 While some are still arguing the value of Speed to consumer, AMZN is continuing to build a shield to protect them from new competitors through their logistics infrastructure ! Impressive!! +2 BLNs items arriving the same or next day to Prime members around the world. + Nearly 60% of Prime member orders arrived the same or next day across the top 60 largest U.S. metro areas. Most of the companies are building a next day to 2 days delivery network at the moment Exciting times in eCommerce Supply Chain!

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A very timely discussion on the importance of demand planning and leveraging today's technology to determine the right product, at the right time/place and in the right quantity. "Using sales history alone isn't enough. Predictive analytics and customer feedback are key to driving more sales and increasing gross margins." - Liza Amlani 🎙 Join me, Guy Courtin, Vice President of Industry and Advanced Technology at Tecsys Inc., and Philip Barry, Global Industry Executive Advisor at Icertis, as we discuss how predictive analytics and customer insights are reshaping inventory management. In This Episode: ⭐ Learn how demand forecasting algorithms optimize inventory to reduce costs and increase efficiency. 🤖 Discover the impact of real-time data and machine learning on inventory management. 🔎 Uncover insights into how technology boosts profitability and enhances customer satisfaction. Dive into the discussion and transform your retail strategy with expert insights! Tune in to the Retail Cloud Alliance's Retailer Tech Tips series here: https://bit.ly/3Kanfnp #retail #retailtechnology #assortmentplanning #demandplanning #merchandising #supplychain #topretailexpert #TRE RETHINK Retail

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Having the right merchandise at the right time to hit the Target is how the team at Target is getting it done. Thanks for sharing, Gretchen McCarthy, your insight on deploying data and technology to look at solutions differently while meeting changing customer demands. Read more: https://lnkd.in/gq3uJptq

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AI luminary Dr. Andrew Ng is Amazon’s newest Board of Director member https://buff.ly/4adRBAe if you want to know where Amazon is headed with AI, you should brush up on Dr. Ng's POV around Agentic AI https://buff.ly/4axHqqS

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Dear Retail Friends,   If you’re a wholesaler, access to data from suppliers and retail customers is critical in enabling optimal service levels with minimal inventory. But getting that data, and acting upon it, can be challenging.   While there are many hurdles to this kind of collaboration, it can be done. And the benefits are numerous – not just for wholesalers, but their suppliers and retail customers as well.   https://lnkd.in/dbxub36v   #supplychain #supplychainoptimization #wholesaledistribution The future of wholesale supply chain collaboration | RELEX Solutions Unlock insights on boosting wholesale collaboration for supply chain efficiency and profit in this expert interview.

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A great evening in NYC for a conversation on first mile to last mile and all things supply chain in-between with Jitsu . CEO Raj Ramanan held his own in some very dynamic conversations that peeled back the onion on what are some real challenges for this b2s and Holiday season. Conversation highlights: 1. Lack of capacity 2. Disintermediating the relationship with the customer by outsourcing last mile to a platform 3. What’s next as CPG/FMCG goes DTC? 4. For certain categories, the customer is trained to wait to receive the product especially with anything in high demand/limited edition. 5. The ability to have a direct relationship with your customer and right any wrongs will ultimately drive great customer lifetime value (CLTV). Coresight Research #supplychain #firstmile #lastmile

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