Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

Forward Thinking

Study: Canada lags global average on providing BOPIS services

Country's stores also need to up their social media game to meet e-commerce demands, OrderDynamics says.

E-commerce shoppers love curbside pickup for its convenience and transparency, but retailers in Canada are lagging behind other countries in providing the service, according to an industry survey released today.

Just 31 percent of Canadian retailers offer click and collect shopping, also known as buy-online-pickup-in-store (BOPIS), compared to 37.6 percent of global retailers, the survey says. That ranking puts the Canadian market in second to last place, behind only the U.S., for the amount of in-store pick up options, trailing the U.K., Australia, France, Germany and Austria.


The numbers come from "Omni-2000 Research: Canada," a report produced by OrderDynamics Corp., a Richmond Hill, Ont.-based provider of cloud-based order management software that was acquired in 2018 by the supply chain management software firmTecsys Inc. for $13.4 million.

The survey studied Canadian BOPIS practices by collecting data from 281 retail chains in Canada with a minimum of 10 store locations apiece. Other key findings include: 

  • 82.9 percent offer some form of free shipping 
  • 34.5 percent of all retailers offer basic, active inventory visibility
  • 13.9 percent of all retailers provide free return deliveries
  • 74.7 percent of omni-channel retailers offer Buy Online Return In-Store (BORIS)
  • 71.2 percent of retailers have a mobile responsive site 
  • 19.5 percent of omni-channel retailers have an active shop on Instagram

"Canada has taken the steps to positively develop its omnichannel retail capabilities, but room for improvement still exists, especially when it comes to areas such as selling via social media," OrderDynamics President Nick McLean said in a release. "In order to live up to growing expectations, retailers will increasingly need to provide solutions in a world that continues to be altered by e-commerce."

Recent

More Stories

photos of white house and a loaded containership

Supply chain groups push back on Trump tariff plan

Industry groups across the spectrum of supply chain operations today are pushing back against the Trump Administration plan to apply steep tariffs on imports from Canada, Mexico, and China, saying the additional fees are taxes that will undermine their profit margins, slow their economic investments, and raise prices for consumers.

Even as a last-minute deal today appeared to delay the tariff on Mexico, that deal is set to last only one month, and tariffs on the other two countries are still set to go into effect at midnight tonight.

Keep ReadingShow less

Featured

containers stacked at yard

U.S. manufacturers scramble to avoid pain of tariff war

Businesses are scrambling today to insulate their supply chains from the impacts of a trade war being launched by the Trump Administration, which is planning to erect high tariff walls on Tuesday against goods imported from Canada, Mexico, and China.

Tariffs are import taxes paid by American companies and collected by the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Agency as goods produced in certain countries cross borders into the U.S.

Keep ReadingShow less
NMFTA to release proposed freight classification changes this week

NMFTA to release proposed freight classification changes this week

The less-than-truckload (LTL) industry moved closer to a revamped freight classification system this week, as the National Motor Freight Traffic Association (NMFTA) continued to spread the word about upcoming changes to the way it helps shippers and carriers determine delivery rates. The NMFTA will publish proposed changes to its National Motor Freight Classification (NMFC) system Thursday, a transition announced last year, and that the organization has termed its “classification reimagination” process.

Businesses throughout the LTL industry will be affected by the changes, as the NMFC is a tool for setting prices that is used daily by transportation providers, trucking fleets, third party logistics service providers (3PLs), and freight brokers.

Keep ReadingShow less
Jump Start 25 conference opens in Atlanta

Jump Start 25 conference opens in Atlanta

Artificial intelligence (AI) and the economy were hot topics on the opening day of SMC3 Jump Start 25, a less-than-truckload (LTL)-focused supply chain event taking place in Atlanta this week. The three-day event kicked off Monday morning to record attendance, with more than 700 people registered, according to conference planners.

The event opened with a keynote presentation from AI futurist Zack Kass, former head of go to market for OpenAI. He talked about the evolution of AI as well as real-world applications of the technology, furthering his mission to demystify AI and make it accessible and understandable to people everywhere. Kass is a speaker and consultant who works with businesses and governments around the world.

Keep ReadingShow less
trends in robotics

IFR: five trends will drive robot growth through 2025

As the global market value of industrial robot installations passes its all-time high of $16.5 billion, five trends will continue to drive its growth through 2025, according to a forecast from the International Federation of Robotics (IFR).

That is important because the increased use of robots has the potential to significantly reduce the impact of labor shortages in manufacturing, IFR said. That will happen when robots automate dirty, dull, dangerous or delicate tasks – such as visual quality inspection, hazardous painting, or heavy lifting—thus freeing up human workers to focus on more interesting and higher-value tasks.

Keep ReadingShow less