Rob Haddock

Retail margins rarely disappear all at once, they leak out quietly across transportation, inventory, and returns. As ecommerce grows and return rates rise, retailers are facing higher logistics costs, volatile freight spend, and inventory positioned in the wrong places at the wrong time. Many organizations still operate without true end-to-end visibility, making it difficult to control cost or respond proactively to disruption. This playbook shows how leading retailers are addressing total cost of ownership (TCO) as a strategic priority, not just an operational metric. Instead of massive transformation programs, it outlines practical actions that can uncover measurable savings in as little as 90 days through better purchase order control, improved visibility, and smarter network design. Why download this white paper: Identify where margin is leaking across transportation, inventory, and returns Understand the three most effective levers for reducing supply chain cost Learn how to reduce premium freight, improve utilization, and avoid markdowns See how real-time visibility improves planning and service levels Get a step-by-step 90-day pilot roadmap to validate savings Build a finance-ready business case for scalable TCO improvement By the end, you’ll have a clear framework to evaluate your current operations, prioritize improvements, and turn hidden supply chain inefficiencies…

This post is written by our friends at e2open. E2open is the connected supply chain software platform that enables the world’s largest companies to transform the way they make, move, and sell goods and services. Moving as one.™ Learn More: www.e2open.com.   Parcel used to be the lightweight cousin of freight: important, but not something that kept supply chain leaders up at night. Those days are long gone. Today, parcel volumes rival truckload execution in complexity, visibility requirements, and cost impact. For many enterprises, parcel management software now determines whether omnichannel promises are kept—or quietly broken—one late delivery at a time. The problem isn’t parcel itself, but where it lives. When parcel operates in a separate system from your transportation management system (TMS), costs creep up, execution gets messy, and performance suffers. Integrating parcel directly into TMS workflows turns shipping from a necessary evil into a strategic advantage.   Parcel management: from warehouse detail to board-level problem Parcel complexity exploded as e-commerce, ship-from-store, and direct-to-consumer models took center stage. More carriers, more service levels, more delivery promises—and far more returns—turned parcel shipping into a daily operational chess match. That complexity has consequences. Parcel spend now shows up on executive radar.…