The world of fashion may have gotten too fast for Hennes & Mauritz (H&M), which last week reported yet another poor financial quarter.

Sustainability is increasingly becoming a board level issue, with 42% of fashion brands now publishing information on suppliers. But how can a retailer embed sustainability good practice into every aspect of the business? Alan Gunner, Business Development Director, Adjuno, considers the next steps for sustainable retailing.

Global logistics spending is expected to reach $10.6trn in 2020, with transportation accounting for the majority at 70%, according to a new report.

Research by Frost & Sullivan predicts that technologies such as cloud computing, big data, and crowdsourcing, coupled with an influx of tech-savvy start-ups, are unbundling the value chain and transforming delivery models.

Jiangxi Fengyu Shuntu Technology Co. Ltd., a subsidiary of China’s largest privately owned logistics service provider, SF Express, has received the first drone operator license in the country, The Paper reported.

The trial license, granted by the East China Regional Administration of the Civil Aviation Administration of China, was issued in the context of an exploration of the licensing management.

While the University of Tennessee Knoxville (UTK) holds two student job fairs per year, the supply chain program has so much interest, it holds its own fairs. Around 160-180 Fortune 500 companies come each fall and spring to recruit the 1,000 supply chain students for internships, co-op programs and full-time jobs.

Consumers are becoming ever more demanding when it comes to getting their purchases delivered, with growing numbers demanding a service that is both free and fast. 

According to a AlixPartners survey, the maximum delivery time the average shopper will accept has fallen to 4.5 days, down from 5.5 in 2012.

The finding underscores how strongly market leaders such as Amazon and Walmart influence shopper expectations, said the company. 

If there ever was a scrum in the supply chain, it’s last-mile delivery. And it’s a worldwide scrum, no less.

From China to Europe to the U.S., companies as divergent as Amazon, SF Express, Shipt, Instacart and XPO Logistics are pushing and shoving their way through the last-mile delivery maze.

Dive Brief:

• Retailers are more interested in full supply chain visibility and precision rather than same-day delivery operations, according to a report released by last mile solutions provider Localz and eft Supply Chain and Logistics Business Intelligence, a networking agency for supply chain business leaders.
• The report highlights the development of what Localz calls the individual economy, or "Iconomy," denoting the trend that consumers want what they want, when they want it.
• According to Localz CEO Tim Andrew, retailers and consumers are more interested in full control of their orders and shipments than they are in immediate delivery, which accounts for the rise in direct-to-consumer delivery methods.

Perhaps the biggest challenge facing the distribution industry today is the rise of the impatient customer. According to a recent report, 50% of customers would abandon a purchase if delivery choices were unsatisfactory. Customers want the goods they have ordered not only as quickly as possible, but also within a specified delivery time. Gone are the days of “your parcel will be delivered between 8am and 8pm within the next five to seven working days.”

JD.com, one of China’s largest e-commerce companies, has launched a new accelerator program called AI Catapult that focuses on blockchain and artificial intelligence startups.