Reconfiguring retail space to improve fulfillment

This fireside chat recap is from Wednesday, the second day of FreightWaves’ Global Supply Chain Week.

FIRESIDE CHAT TOPIC: Effective middle-mile management

DETAILS: A discussion with Bill Thayer, founder and CEO of Fillogic, on ways of better managing the middle mile and fulfillment.

KEY QUOTES FROM THAYER:

On using existing infrastructure to build density in middle mile:

“Malls are smack dab in the middle of the middle mile. … We take excess space in malls and provide the technology and operations to make mall-based retailers and digital name brands operate more efficiently.”

On cost synergies in the retail space:

“There’s components, whether it’s returns, reverse logistics that are not built out or not thought out. … When you think of new, there’s costs, there’s pain points, there’s everything. Let’s take existing infrastructure, use it more efficiently. Yeah, there’s some pain associated with it, but it’s more pain of thinking differently instead of doing something differently.”

On how reverse logistics should be viewed:

“So much has been done over the last few years to get the customer their money back from these third-party technology platforms. … How can you intercept in that middle mile to take what could be a 15-to-35-day return process? If you can take that down to two, you’ve now changed the margin equation for how people make money or lose money.”

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Editor: Todd Maiden