Logistics

Even if Dollar General doesn’t prevail in its efforts to acquire Family Dollar the company’s expanding distribution infrastructure is positioned to support future growth.

Dollar General said it plans to build the 13th distribution center in its nationwide network in San Antonio. The facility will measure more than 900,000-sq.-ft., employ roughly 530 people and serve more than 1,000 stores when it opens in October 2015, the company said.

Goodlettsville, Tenn. -- Dollar General Corporation announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art distribution center in San Antonio, Texas. It will be the 13th facility in the retailer’s growing distribution network.  

Green Bay, Wis. -- Shopko is expanding its omnichannel ship-to-store program, including the ability to buy products online and ship them to the store for free. After a successful pilot launch, the retailer expanded the program to its 310 locations across the U.S.    

Amazon’s 50 fulfillments centers and 15 sortation centers are looking to hire 80,000 seasonal works to cope with an anticipated surge in U.S. holiday sales.

Amazon, like other retailers, touts the seasonal positions as an opportunity to get in on the ground floor with the company and establish a foundation for a career. Last year, Amazon said it converted thousands of seasonal employees into regular, full-time roles after the holidays, and expects to do the same this year.
 

Hamilton, N.J. -- Voxware, a voice application company, announced that Whole Foods Market saw productivity gains of 25-35% after implementing the latest version of Voxware’s voice solution in the grocer’s largest distribution center. Whole Foods has expanded its deployment of Voxware Voice Management Suite to its other nine DCs with scheduled completion in Oct. 2014.  

Bentonville, Ark. -- Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is planning to sharply cut back the growth of its U.S. supercenters in favor of smaller-format stores and acccelerated e-commerce and digital investments.    

Walmart’s newest omnichannel initiative is on display at a supercenter in Northwest Arkanas where the retailer has installed lockers for online order pickup.

Issaquah, Wash. -- Costco Wholesale Corp. will enter China for the first time through the opening of an online flagship store on Alibaba Group’s Tmall Global platform. Tmall Global allows overseas brands and retailers to establish presence on the Alibaba third-party e-commerce platform Tmall.com without the need for physical operations in China.