Managing Returns and Replenishment January 5, 2026January isn’t downtime for retailers—it’s reset time following the surge of the holiday peak. Along with fulfilling ongoing orders, they must balance processing a high volume of returns with positioning inventory for the spring and summer seasons. Reverse logistics is employed to determine what returned items are re-stocked, refurbished, offloaded for resale by secondary …
Cross-Docking Can Be a Retailer’s Best Friend
October 23, 2025Cross-docking can be a retailer’s best friend during seasonal peaks. This is because it speeds up the distribution process. Cross-docking refers to the transfer of product from inbound to outbound transportation in a relatively short timeframe without having to warehouse it. Usually, trucks carry the inbound and outbound shipments, but sometimes transfer occurs with other modes of transportation, …
How Can a Distribution Center Help Your Business?
February 13, 2025As businesses scale, they must determine whether they can handle all of the increased demands on their operations in house, or whether they need to outsource particular processes. One of those processes is order fulfillment. Businesses looking to make their order fulfillment processes more efficient and less costly turn to 3PL’s that operate distribution centers.What Is a Distribution …
Employee T-Shirt Fulfillment for Retail Store Re-Brand
Business challenge: A large multi-brand retailer was in the process of rebranding one of its divisions. It needed all employees working in the newly re-branded stores across the U.S. to have identical t-shirts for its big Black Friday sale. ASW’s solution: ASW provided a full-service solution, ensuring that all t-shirts were sourced, imprinted, labeled, packed, and shipped efficiently to each …
Retail Distribution Case Study
Business challenge: A manufacturer of soap and skin care products made with 100% natural ingredients needed a new distribution partner. Its existing partner was neither able to satisfactorily design a complete retail distribution plan, nor able to scale to match the client’s growth. ASW’s solution: ASW designed and implemented a plan to consolidate all product distribution in the United States …
Child Car Seat Order Fulfillment
Business challenge: A leading child car seat manufacturer sought out a 3PL to handle some orders for one of its most popular products. After growth, the client needed to find one partner to handle its entire U.S. distribution channel (including multiple SKU’s), both B2B to retailers and B2C to customers’ homes. Because of the size of the operation, the client …
Understanding Direct-to-Consumer (DTC)
There are B2B companies–those businesses providing services and commodities to other businesses–and there are B2C companies that provide services and commodities to individual customers. Or are they DTC companies?Overview If you’re a supplier, you’ve probably been asked by fellow suppliers and corporate buyers if you are B2B or B2C. What about DTC, which is being talked about more and more? …
Healthcare Wellness Store Order Fulfillment
Business challenge: A large healthcare system established a subsidiary, dedicated to selling wellness and lifestyle management products. It needed a partner to warehouse inventory and fulfill orders for its customers. ASW’s solution: ASW agreed to provide retail fulfillment services, which included warehousing, order fulfillment, shipping, and returns management services. Execution: ASW’s Northeast Ohio distribution facility was an ideal location for …
Value-Added Distribution Services
Business challenge: A CPG manufacturer of innovative laundry care products experienced trouble with its logistics operations, getting product properly kitted, packaged, stored, and distributed throughout the U.S. and Canada to retail customers (grocery, pharmaceutical, mass merchant stores), and online consumers. Additionally, they did not have access to real-time inventory. The company had multiple manufacturing locations and utilized several warehouses in …