Retail growth in general surpassed all expectations in 2020, with the pandemic choosing winners and losers. Consumers funneled disposable income into groceries, home furnishings and electronics as they adapted to working remotely. Much of that growth manifested itself through e-commerce, which meant that if you weren't Apple, Walmart, Target or Amazon, you relied on brute-force order fulfillment. The dramatic shift to e-commerce put pressure on operations that were already facing a declining labor pool, and systems and equipment that favored store replenishment and large deliveries. This rapid change in order profile requires a new look at network infrastructure, inventory deployment and systems and equipment, to improve efficiency and mitigate risk associated with fluctuations in labor availability.
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