Modern Shipper

The online payment platform boosted its outlook for total payment volume, but guidance was largely unchanged.

The one-stop income verification provider is meeting the needs of a swelling independent workforce.

E-commerce platform Shopify posted 57% growth in revenue in the second quarter as online shopping remained strong.

Package theft is one reason interest in smart parcel lockers is growing among Americans, and as a result, more businesses are looking at installing them.

Cart.com’s end-to-end solution is now integrated with Sauceda’s fulfillment services.

Strong second-quarter results give way to second-half volume growth concerns. An analyst calls the share sell-off “overdone.”

Bed Bath & Beyond has tapped Ryder to develop and operate regional fulfillment centers for the retailer as it continues to transform its supply chain.

The next step is making deliveries to paying customers.

A new research project from Bloomberg Second Measure found that Walmart is barely holding on to its lead in the grocery delivery wars as Instacart and others are quickly making inroads.

Two leading drone associations agree with the NTSB regarding investigation of drone accidents, but they differ on what should trigger those investigations.

Instacart will begin building microfulfillment centers with Fabric robotics to speed order picking in partnership with retailers.

Fusion Logistics says layoffs were caused by a large increase in insurance premiums.

E-commerce shipping company Sendle has reached a deal with GLS to handle last-mile shipments for its e-commerce customers in the Western U.S.

Fetch Package has created a last-mile logistics solution to optimize deliveries to multifamily housing communities, eliminating the need for updated package rooms or lockers and increased staff to handle incoming traffic.

Lyft riders in Miami will be able to choose a self-driving car later this year through an agreement with Ford and autonomous-tech company Argo AI.

Fillogic’s microdistribution hubs are helping to rescue struggling mall owners.

Less than six months after announcing a $43 million funding round, headless commerce platform Fabric has announced a $100 million Series B round.

JOKR, a 15-minute delivery platform that launched in New York last month and currently is in 10 cities globally, has raised $170 million in a Series A funding round.

Even as in-store retail sales return, e-commerce continues to grow, showing that 2020’s pandemic-induced spending spree was not a blip, but just a beginning.

The Black Swan drones from Dronamics won’t be carrying little packages to someone’s doorsteps. They’re heavy-lift vehicles and DHL wants to flood Europe’s skies with them.

Uber will partner with national grocer Albertsons and 1,200 of its stores.

Direct-to-consumer cannabis is slowly but surely making its way outside of California.

California’s largest vertically integrated cannabis company now serves 60% of the state’s households.

Cleveron has developed a driving test to certify operators of remotely controlled last-mile delivery vehicles.

UP Partners is looking for transformative technology companies that will underpin a society dominated by unmanned aircraft.

Even though there is no indication Tesla is interested in eVTOLs at this time, Morgan Stanley says the company will eventually offer services related to urban air mobility.

“We will learn how our customers use the product, learn their pain points and inject those solutions into the product as we go, really changing the user experience.”

The United States’ resident delivery colossus could unveil a game-changing last-mile solution.

The head of a key trucking group says the net impact of all the changes is a “chilling effect” on the use of independent contractors.

“We’re investing in our supply chain at an unprecedented scale in order to optimize that process end-to-end.”

Fetch and Körber’s solution provides safety, efficiency and flexibility.

Bed Bath & Beyond has added Roadie as a last-mile delivery partner, expanding its network with an additional 200,000 drivers.

Even if last-mile delivery and gig economy companies can find drivers, getting them onboarded and access to key business tools remains problematic.

Mastercard and Verizon want to turn your smartphone into a cash register.

While most of the focus has been on capacity constraints for ocean containers and truckload freight, e-commerce shippers remain concerned about the impacts on the last mile.

Geodis and Knapp are looking to debut a highly automated fulfilment system by August 2022.

Walmart International bought a 77% stake in the India-based e-commerce shopping portal in 2018.

DeliverEnd and Perfit partner to provide a contactless e-commerce and delivery solution.

As warehouse automation firm Berkshire Grey prepares for a public stock offering later this month, President Steve Johnson sat down with Modern Shipper to discuss the company’s outlook.

Talkshoplive and its embeddable player network received a huge boost with $6 million in funding.

The financial and strategic benefits of shifting toward more direct-to-consumer sales is becoming apparent at Nike.

Research firm Cowen issued a positive report on electric vehicle maker Electric Last Mile Systems, citing its experience management and low capital need.

Stripe and Thrive Market are both reportedly eyeing IPOs in two potential blockbuster listings in their segments.

Bringg and GoFor join forces to expand delivery capacity, coverage and customer satisfaction.

Direct-to-consumer alcoholic beverage service is on the rise.

DHL Express is constantly investing in its network, but the growth of e-commerce is accelerating expansion of its operations.

“The rapidly legalizing cannabis market will be one of the first entirely new regulated supply chains to be built after the invention of the internet.”

Chinese warehouse automation firm Hai Robotics is reportedly looking for a $150 million raise at a $1.3 billion valuation.

DoorDash’s midyear report on delivery trends found a $2,900 order for perfumes and comfort food and grooming supplies seeing large order growth through the first six months of 2021.

Kroger Co. continues to bring intelligent automation to its warehouses.

Digital retailers are partnering with SaaS companies that are employing an emergent new service model: secure access service edge

On Sunday, China banned new downloads of Didi’s ride-hailing app, and on Tuesday, the stock dropped more than 23% in response.

OneRail announced its last-mile fulfillment platform is now integrated with and available from SAP’s Commerce Cloud network.

Bringg helped U.K. retailer Co-op scale its e-commerce business from 30 stores to over 800 in a year’s time — and do so in a more environmentally friendly way.

The pandemic is still creating big swings in data, according to the Council of Economic Advisers, which urges caution in making big interpretations.

Warehouse automation company Geek+ announced it has sold 20,000 autonomous mobile robotics solutions around the world.

Experts say disruption to the supply chain caused by the coronavirus crisis has been challenging for manufacturers of all sizes, particularly smaller companies.

The company’s mission is to create the first logistics company that serves all humans equally.

Zebra Technologies will acquire Fetch Robotics for $290 million, adding warehouse automation tools to its portfolio.

Attorneys general are urging the Postal Regulatory Commission to order the agency to abandon its multiyear focus on parcels until mail delivery problems are resolved.

The Black Swan drone is coming and it can carry more than a toothbrush from Walgreens. Dronamics is working to set up droneports all over Europe for fast delivery.

Upfront costs are reduced in the Robots-as-a-Service model.

Covenant believes government incentives are vital in helping the trucking industry meet zero-emission goals.

Headless commerce company Shogun has raised $67.5 million to scale its solution and speed the go-to-market process.

Two Oregon delivery providers have terminated their contract with Amazon, but the e-tailer has countered and said the companies wanted $36 million to continue servicing the contract.

As drone delivery services ramp up, the time is quickly approaching when warehouses will need to adjust their operations to accommodate single-package loading.

The Airbus A321 is the new kid on the block when it comes to cargo aircraft. Engineering companies take retired passenger planes and transform them into planes that can carry lots of cargo.

Last-mile delivery management company Onfleet said its software has now helped facilitate more than 100 million deliveries.

ShipBob has secured a $200 million Series E round, valuing the cloud-based logistics platform at over $1 billion.

Electric Last Mile Systems went public through a SPAC merger on Monday, with its stock initially jumping about 10% before sliding as the morning trading session wore on.

Last-mile delivery firm AxleHire has added a sortation center in Chicago, where it will start making deliveries using its expanding transportation network.

Greater package volumes are dictating FedEx’s purchase of 20 more cargo jets.

Sendle is known for offering e-commerce sellers flat-rate shipping options, and now it has an additional $35 million to accelerate expansion of its network.

Chinese ride-hailing company Didi has filed for an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, but some analysts are already questioning the long-term value of the stock.

The union’s declaration establishes the `Amazon Project,’ with the long-term goal of creating a division to organize company workers.

Amazon warns that third-party sellers and customers would be harmed if the company were forced to divest its logistics operations.

Afterpay, a buy-now, pay-later provider, has inked deals with 13 major retailers representing nearly half of all e-commerce purchases.

Surefront has introduced an end-to-end product lifecycle management tool that connects all steps in the product development and go-to-market process in a single virtual environment.

The 32nd version of the venerable report waxes philosophical on why more, not less, logistics spending will be needed.

ShipHero’s SaaS and e-comm 3PL businesses complement each other.

The parent company of Saks OFF 5TH, the discount designer retailer, will spin off its e-commerce business in a new entity with fresh funding from Insight Partners.

As shippers work to fulfill the orders from Prime Day, there are many lessons that can be gleaned to improve the overall customer experience.

In the apparel world where trying on clothes is so vital to sales, the COVID-19 pandemic presented challenges. Iconic brand Levi used the pandemic to accelerate digitization in its supply chain, and it paid immediate dividends.

Security firm ADT has introduced free apps that allow rideshare and delivery drivers as well as passengers to connect discreetly with emergency services when they feel at risk.

E-commerce fulfillment provider Transportation and Logistics Systems has reached an agreement to acquire SalSon Logistics for $90 million. However, the deal doesn’t yet have financing in place.

Electric vehicle manufacturer ELMS will debut a prototype of its Class 3 cargo van at the FedEx contractors event at the end of July.

Berkshire Grey has released its next generation of warehouse robots that it said will speed fulfillment time for retailers.

Uber will acquire the remaining 47% of on-demand grocer Cornershop that it doesn’t already own, the company said in an SEC filing.

Even as sellers expect higher sales on Amazon Prime Day, there are worries about getting inventory, finding places to store it and shipping it to the customer.

Gopuff users will now be delivered advertising through Skai, an ad platform for retailers.

Walmart has made an investment in DroneUp as it plans to begin making drone deliveries from a Bentonville, Arkansas, store this summer.

GoFor has named Ian Gardner CEO. He takes over from company founder Brad Rollo, who is scaling back duties for health reasons.

Seattle, along with the Urban Freight Lab and business partners, will pilot zero-emission delivery zones in the city.

Each day, 1.7 million packages are stolen off porches, yet businesses and consumers are not investing in theft-protection security.

Commerce Signals has launched a targeted marketing tool that it said improves the chance a marketing campaign will reach the right consumer to 90%.

Last-mile delivery and fulfillment platform Bringg announced a $100 million Series E funding round, reaching rarefied air as a unicorn company.

“Our goal with this partnership is to alleviate the task of high cost and difficult deliveries from everyday delivery drivers,” a Nuro spokesperson said about FedEx testing the company’s autonomous delivery robot.

“We’re trying to deploy a fleet and do volume deliveries and learn more about that than anybody else in the autonomous space,” says CEO Luke Schneider.

A majority of businesses plan to maintain online buying processes put in place during COVID-19 even after the pandemic subsides, according to an Amazon Business survey.

E-commerce management company Whitebox has released Omnifi, a single platform that connects e-commerce brands’ marketing, sales and logistics channels.