Sent Items #189: Wednesday, May 21, 2025

I am at Home Delivery World here in Nashville today and tomorrow, where we have a booth on the exhibit floor (find us in the Startup Zone) and I will be leading a panel on Strategic Warehouse Operations. If you are at the show, come by and say hi!

This is an exciting issue of Sent Items as I have been given a news embargo by Shopify that I am able to share here. In last week’s Sent Items (link), in light of Shopify’s outstanding Q1 earnings, I stated that Shopify remains the dominant e-commerce software platform. After today’s announcements, I’m quintupling down!

I’ve pulled out a couple announcements that I thought were particularly interesting to this audience, all part of Shopify's Edition launch day.

As part of Shopify’s POS v.10, they are releasing a checkout experience where consumers can both “ship and carry out”.

• With the introduction of “ship and carry out” Shopify is solving for a top merchant frustration; supporting different fulfillment methods within a single checkout. 

• Customers can now complete one transaction where part of the order is carried out in store while simultaneously ordering and shipping out-of-stock, inventory at other locations or online-only items for home delivery.

• Merchants have the flexibility to decide how and when line items within an order are split based on fulfillment location, delivery promise or other delivery requirements. 

Another release I thought was particularly intriguing was their AI Store Builder.

TL;DR: AI can quickly create a new store design using just a few keywords.

• By inputting a few descriptive keywords, the AI generates three different store layouts, complete with images and text.

• This feature significantly reduces the time and effort required to design a store from scratch, allowing merchants to focus on customization and personalization.

So basically a loser like me can set up a great looking store using only a few simple words. Extraordinary!

Finally, Shop App is making updated to its Homefeed.

TL;DR: Shop is introducing an improved home feed that features more responsive recommendations, helping merchants reach new customers and stay connected with existing customers by being highlighted in relevant ways on Shop’s most trafficked surface. 

• As buyers engage with Shop app—refreshing their feed, viewing products, or adding items to their cart—content updates in real-time to create a personalized shopping experience. 

• This enhancement boosts merchants’ visibility, helping them attract new relevant customers while strengthening connections with existing ones.

So many other releases, check out their full list here (link). If you are not selling on Shopify, what are you doing to yourself??

We are excited by the quality of applicants so far for the inaugural Logistics & Leadership Retreat here in Nashville. We’ve already started accepting a few, and would love for more applications across brands, 3PLs, and logistics tech companies.

Remember, this is a VIP event, a curated cohort focused on creating meaningful relationships and we are capping attendance at only 50 guests to encourage real connections and an intimate retreat experience. This event is free for brands to attend.

You can find more information about the event here (link) and the sign up link is towards the bottom (or here).

Interesting profile of an Arizona Warehouse that is enabled as a foreign trade zone (link). Foreign-trade zones enable companies to defer tariffs on imported goods and materials, for a while.

• SKU Distribution in Mesa, Arizona., is experiencing rapid growth as companies seek to access foreign-trade zones and navigate rising U.S. tariffs.

• Companies can use foreign-trade zones to defer tariff payments until products are sold, which operators say helps them manage supply chains and avoid bottlenecks.

• The foreign-trade zone program dates back to the 1930s, with roughly 260 such facilities now in the U.S. In some, inquiries from companies have recently quadrupled. Companies can import products tariff-free while they are stored or used to assemble other goods at the warehouse. That allows companies to avoid paying duties until the products are shipped out to U.S. buyers.

Glad to say that SKU Distribution is a partner of ours at Third Person. We recently released a feature enabling brands to filter for Bonded or FTZ facilities upon viewing their matches.

Stord has been crushing it lately. Fresh off last week’s news of a fundraise of $200M (link) they announced on Monday they have acquired Ware2Go from UPS (link).

Since 2021, Stord has matured from an asset-light fulfillment network to a comprehensive omnichannel commerce enablement provider and has grown contracted revenue 10x, and shipped billions of units. It counts brands like Seed Health, Wild, Sundays for Dogs, Elysium, quip, Jolie, V Shred, AG1, and goodr as customers.

While they have acquired companies like ProPack Logistics and Pitney Bowes e-Commerce in recent months, they just announced they are acquiring UPS Subsidiary Ware2Go for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition adds 2.5 million square feet to the company’s existing network of 13 facilities in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and the Netherlands and over 70 partner sites worldwide.

FedEx, Amazon strike large-package delivery deal (link). The agreement comes nearly six years after FedEx let its Express and Ground shipping contracts with Amazon expire. FedEx will deliver large packages to Amazon’s residential customers under a multi-year agreement. The two parties signed a partnership deal in late February that provides Amazon “cost favorability” when compared to using UPS.

The deal’s announcement comes after UPS said in January said it would cut its Amazon volume by more than 50% by the second half of 2026 due to profitability concerns. However, the FedEx agreement isn’t meant to replace delivery capacity from UPS, according to Amazon.

More than two-thirds of Amazon packages are delivered through its in-house logistics network in the U.S., according to the company. But large packages can be difficult to handle efficiently, even for Amazon and FedEx’s highly automated networks.

Yesterday GoBolt published their 2025 Logistics Report, exploring the latest trends and challenges in third-party logistics and offering actionable insights to help brands strengthen their shipping and fulfillment strategies. Read more here (link).

GoBolt surveyed hundreds of logistics and supply chain leaders from leading brands to uncover how they are navigating today’s increasingly complex landscape. They even included me in this report!

Enjoy the rest of the week (and sign up for our retreat!)

- Matt

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