Distribution

As online merchants firm up their holiday operations, they may have to rule out using Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA).   Amazon.com is restricting new merchant access to its warehouses during the busy holiday shopping season as a means of ensuring it has the capacity needed to quickly receive, store and ship merchandise to its Prime membership customers, reported Internet Retailer.  

A sizzling Ulta Beauty wowed the Street on Thursday, announcing aggressive store expansion at a time when many brick-and-mortar retailers are cutting back. It also upped its outlook.  

With its recent acquisition of Jet.com, a commitment to growing its online grocery business with a convenient grocery pick-up option and an extensive investment against delivering a seamless digital shopping experience, Walmart is once again flipping the script on what it means to compete for America's shopping dollar.   The company's investment in grocery pick-up services represents the cover of that new script - and Walmart is expanding that service to 600 stores this year and 500 stores next year.  

By the holidays, customers of J Sainsbury Plc will be able to take advantage of more mobile capabilities.   Leveraging its acquisition of the Home Retail Group, which closed last month, Sainsbury will begin adding Argos branches or click-and-collect distribution points inside almost all of its stores, according to a recent Bloomberg article.  

It’s shaping up as a busy fall for Ross Stores.   The retailer is opening 25 Ross Dress for Less ("Ross") stores and nine dd's Discounts stores across 16 different states in September and October.   The new locations round out the company's expansion plans to add approximately 90 locations in 2016.  

Walmart has gone into high gear in its fight to challenge Amazon.   The chain is on track to double the number of warehouses dedicated to online sales to 10 by the end of 2016, according to a report on nbcnews.com.    

The Home Depot to modernize with next-gen handheld devices in DCs

For The Home Depot, supply chain efficiency is about getting product from vendor partners down to store level, or directly onto the front porch of its shoppers — all without increasing overhead costs.

With an eye on modernization, the retailer is leveraging its mobile device management platform to ease its upcoming transition to a new fleet of ruggedized handhelds across its supply chain.

Walmart gave a lackluster profit outlook for next year, and said it will slow new store openings as it invests in remodels and digital initiatives.