Gorillas’ $1 billion raise underscores the market opportunity for last-mile and fast grocery services: The US and EU markets are both heating up, putting pressure on Amazon and Instacart—but is the category sustainable?

But retailers can, take the time to explain potential delays and ensure that their last-mile delivery and pickup options are up to snuff (Hot). Trend 3: Making sustainability a core consideration. Consumer awareness of this issue was heightened during the pandemic, and it doesn’t show signs of easing. Retailers must take actions to address customer preferences in this regard (Hot).

Google announced a partnership in July with Ericsson to provide last-mile 5G, albeit on a much smaller scale, in conjunction with Telecom Italia. Key stats: According to GSMA forecasts, operators are expected to spend $900 billion worldwide between 2021 and 2025 on mobile capital expenditures, nearly 80% of which will be in 5G, and much of this expenditure could run on cloud infrastructure.

What this means: The State of Broadband Report reveals that while global internet access and adoption has made progress, greater efforts are needed to provide last-mile access, especially in developing countries during the COVID-19 pandemic. The report cites how pandemic-related shutdowns in 2020 and 2021 highlighted the need for a robust and accessible communications infrastructure.

Rethinking Delivery: Focus on the Last Mile. Three main factors contribute to the environmental impact—chiefly CO2 emissions—of the “last mile” in ecommerce deliveries: vehicle type, the last facility parcels pass through before heading to the customer, and whether delivery to the customer can be completed; and if not, what happens to the parcel?

Walmart is even entering the third-party delivery space with a new venture called GoLocal, opening up its last-mile delivery drivers to smaller businesses. Challenges:. Walmart+ is less than a year old, and its membership base is far smaller than Amazon Prime.

While autonomous ride-sharing may be further away for humans, it may already be a viable solution for last-mile delivery with companies. For humans, semi-autonomy may speed up adoption and create new opportunities.

Last-mile delivery is also being transformed in the country, with contactless service being pushed to the forefront to satisfy consumer demand for more convenient and safer ways to receive their orders. KFC recently partnered with Neolix, a Chinese self-driving company, to offer “stores on wheels” with touchless menus and scan-and-pay capabilities.

Google announced a partnership last week with Ericsson to provide last-mile 5G, albeit on a much smaller scale in conjunction with Telecom Italia. The bigger picture: Carriers are still building out their 5G networks, which still do not generate substantial revenues. Partnering with cloud service providers helps cover development costs.

Retailers can, however, take the time to explain potential delays and ensure their last-mile delivery and pickup options are up to snuff. (Hot). Trend 3: Making sustainability a core consideration. Consumer awareness of this issue was heightened during the pandemic, and it doesn’t show signs of easing. Retailers must take actions to address customer preferences in this regard. (Hot).

It has allowed the retailer to connect that last mile between their storefront and the consumers when they can’t get in the door.”. McGowan said Snap has tested some type of AR lens with most of the big-box retailers in Canada. Toys R Us and other retailers in Canada have used Snapchat’s portal lenses to simulate a store tour.

Olsavsky said the company is investing heavily in last-mile delivery efforts, which is in line with recent moves from the etailer.

“Ensuring a good experience can be difficult when many factors are outside of your control, including issues that occur in the last mile of video delivery,” Susman said. “But technology can help to solve those problems.”.

“Unless a retailer has its own last-mile delivery capability, I don't see it being able to do much other than setting expectations with its customers that delivery times will be longer. Even a company like Amazon can't keep up—and it owns thousands of last-mile delivery trucks.”.

Grocery companies—and more specifically their systems and services—have really been put to the test amid the pandemic. Many grocers are having trouble keeping items on the shelves. And even the most prepared are encountering issues with supply chain logistics.

To reach the elusive last mile, Amazon is also tapping into the gig economy with its Flex program, which allows contractors to deliver packages using their own cars. It’s hard to estimate FBA’s market size since it includes different parts of the logistics and transportation ecosystem. But in its Q1 2021 earnings call, Amazon said it increased spending on fulfillment by 43.4% YoY to $16.53 billion.

Arsen Avakian, co-founder and CEO of Cooler Screens, a digital merchandizing and media platform that replaces traditional cooler doors in retail stores, called digital store signage “the last-mile of advertising”—a highly effective dynamic marketing vehicle right at the point-of-sale (POS). It also reduces friction as customers traverse the aisles.

Improved last-mile delivery comes with traffic congestion. One-click payment comes with the potential for increased returns. “There are also a lot of externalities that are becoming a bigger part of the discussion,” Profitero’s Anderson said.

But Amazon has hardly rested on its laurels as a best-in-class provider of fast and free delivery; instead, it’s doubled down by investing in fulfillment centers and last-mile delivery to turn free two-day shipping for Prime members into free next-day shipping.

Despite substantial 2019 investments in last-mile logistics to enable next-day Prime delivery, Amazon encountered immediate service disruptions during the early days of panic-buying. As huge demand collided with supply chain and labor constraints, Amazon needed to staff up, retool warehouse operations, and temporarily deprioritize delivery of nonessential goods.

Amazon’s sizable 2019 investments in scaling warehouses and last-mile logistics for next-day Prime shipping put the company in a position to reasonably support the recent demand spike.

It’s much easier to coordinate between warehouses and grocery stores than it is among warehouses, grocery stores, packing operations and last-mile delivery services. The more handoffs in the process and the more time from store shelves to customers’ refrigerators, the greater likelihood that an issue will arise.