Fast Fulfillment: The Machine that Changed Retailing

The fulfillment machine is the delivery side infrastructure of an online business, it is the physical and digital innovations which make it possible to immediately deliver customer orders. Customers want to order everything, while sitting on their couch and they want immediate fulfillment. Fast fulfillment is happening, and everyone knows that, but most are scared of it. Many experts describe the wonders of online retail, but none explains what fast fulfillment is or propose a solution to building a fast fulfillment machine. Managers are frustrated just reading about how great Amazon is, and how startups are innovating fantastic technology driven processes. Here is the book, written in a simple easy to read style which unravels the technical mystery of the fulfillment machine. It levels the knowledge field, reveals the secrets of fast fulfillment, and helps the reader construct a plan to innovate and be ready to face the disruptors. What is happening in retail is contagious across industries, there are no wide moats. Managers and engineers are rushing to redesign their supply chains into fast fulfillment machines. This book provides insights and process details of how to design and build disruptive innovations, so that you are not flying blind or just throwing darts in an effort to pivot/expand to the online order fulfillment world. The book does not story-tell the fast fulfillment machine, it is informative and instructive.