The Wall Street Journal reports that Home Depot "is making progress in its effort to fulfill online orders from its stores. The home improvement retailer said customers are taking advantage of its new options for retrieving their e-commerce orders, including buying goods online that can be delivered from stores, with faster and more accurate delivery estimates.
"About 42% of Home Depot’s online orders and almost 90% of its online returns for the second quarter were handled by its stores, executives said this week."
The story goes on: "Many in the retail industry believe fulfilling online orders from physical stores can be provide store owners an advantage over online competitors like Amazon.com Inc., allowing brick-and-mortar shops to serve as both showrooms and well-located mini-distribution centers. But few have been able to handle the so-called omni-channel operation smoothly and profitably - inventory is more difficult to manage in stores than in warehouses, and determining the best source of fulfillment can involve a complicated calculation of timing, labor and shipping costs."
Home Depot, the story says, "is aided in part by its existing delivery service, which previously only served in-store customers, and its investment into new order management software. Online purchases can now be delivered from more than 700 stores, faster and with shorter scheduled-delivery windows than previously possible."
"About 42% of Home Depot’s online orders and almost 90% of its online returns for the second quarter were handled by its stores, executives said this week."
The story goes on: "Many in the retail industry believe fulfilling online orders from physical stores can be provide store owners an advantage over online competitors like Amazon.com Inc., allowing brick-and-mortar shops to serve as both showrooms and well-located mini-distribution centers. But few have been able to handle the so-called omni-channel operation smoothly and profitably - inventory is more difficult to manage in stores than in warehouses, and determining the best source of fulfillment can involve a complicated calculation of timing, labor and shipping costs."
Home Depot, the story says, "is aided in part by its existing delivery service, which previously only served in-store customers, and its investment into new order management software. Online purchases can now be delivered from more than 700 stores, faster and with shorter scheduled-delivery windows than previously possible."
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