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Int'l Business Times
01-07-2025
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
From Strategy to Delivery: Nitin's Blueprint for Smarter Logistics
Nitin Natesh Kumar's story bridges the worlds between engineering and strategy, startups and enterprises, operational complexity, and clear business outcomes. Over the last several years, the gap between enterprise giants and fast-scaling e-commerce companies has steadily widened. However, Nitin is working to combat this by designing smarter, tech-driven fulfillment networks that allow smaller players to compete on speed, cost, and scale. Nitin has gained a unique blend of experience across different scales, from spearheading Walmart's nationwide next-day delivery rollout to assisting mid-sized companies like OnTrac and Shopify in scaling quickly under pressure. Currently serving as the Director of Planning and Strategy at Fanatics, Nitin's systems-level approach and strategic vision are working to make high-performance logistics more accessible to businesses worldwide. Both Ends of the Business Spectrum Nitin brings a unique vantage point to each operation he works on. He has operated at both ends of the spectrum, from Fortune 1 companies to fast-scaling mid-sized businesses. To this end, Nitin understands what it takes to drive logistics innovation in vastly different contexts. At global giants like Walmart and Wayfair, Nitin managed complex transformations involving hundreds of millions of packages, nationwide delivery networks, and billion-dollar partnerships. Meanwhile, at mid-sized and high-growth companies like OnTrac and Shopify, Nitin helped design scalable systems, navigate resource constraints, and facilitate rapid growth, often starting from scratch or during periods of hyper-growth. Enterprise Insight, Startup Precision Nitin's tenures with institutions such as Walmart, Wayfair, and OnTrac informed his unique ability to translate billion-dollar strategies into scrappy, scalable models for Small and Medium-sized Businesses (SMBs). He strives to help SMBs compete with the big players through his work. Nitin has invaluable insight into large companies' playbooks to gain cost advantages, improve delivery speed, and build customer loyalty. Therefore, he applies that knowledge to level the playing field for small and mid-sized businesses. Whether optimizing fulfillment footprints, deploying micro-fulfillment centers, or creating more innovative S&OP processes, Nitin helps SMBs compete more effectively in a competitive market. The Amazon Challenge While working with Walmart, Nitin tackled the economic puzzle of fast shipping without the volume density. This led to him pioneering the launch of Walmart's NextDay, which has since evolved into Walmart+. These programs aim to compete with Amazon's 1-day and 2-day free shipping options. To do this, Nitin needed to increase delivery speed under sparse circumstances. He ultimately designed innovative and efficient logistics strategies, prioritizing customer experience while maintaining financial responsibility. This meant finding the right balance between delivery speed and cost economics through optimized inventory placement, zone skipping, and ground transportation models that avoided expensive air networks. The resulting program, now called Walmart+, became so successful that the brand currently runs a series of ads for the service starring one of Hollywood's most in-demand talents, Walton Goggins. Tech as a Multiplier In recent years, AI has become an essential tool for business prediction and automation, and analytics improve forecast accuracy and cost efficiency in high-stakes logistics environments. To capitalize on these tools, Nitin doesn't just stay on top of AI trends; he actively integrates them into operations in ways that reduce costs, increase speed, and enhance service. This includes advanced techniques like Gradient Boosting methods that significantly lower MAPE in forecasting, and Reinforcement Learning models that enable smarter, more efficient routing decisions. Speaking and Thought Leadership Throughout his career, Nitin has accumulated extensive expertise in network design and optimal network planning. Now, he isn't just using that experience to drive scalable, high-performance logistics strategies across businesses of all sizes; he's also striving to pass on the knowledge he has acquired Nitin has written numerous articles covering business and scale-related subjects, unveiling many of his techniques in published works such as SDC Exec , International Journal for Supply Chain Management , and Supply Chain Management Review . Additionally, Nitin speaks publicly at conferences, including the Home Delivery World conference. There, he participated in an expert panel on optimal warehouse network design. Over 300 retailers and more than 5,000 supply chain experts attended the conference. Vision Forward For Nitin Natesh Kumar, the goal is to give the next generation of e-commerce brands the same logistics expertise that corporate giants have had. Over the next few years, he aims to help small and medium-sized e-commerce companies compete with the big players by providing them with the same level of strategic thinking, advanced analytics, and scalable logistics solutions. By bridging the gap between innovation and execution, Nitin aims to help these businesses unlock growth through smarter networks, optimized fulfillment, last-mile operations, and AI, a capability previously reserved for only the largest companies.
Metro
01-07-2025
- Business
- Metro
M&S to take weeks to recover fully from devastating cyber attack
Marks & Spencer is expected to fully resume online shopping within four weeks as it continues to recover from the massive cyber attack. Half of the systems including Click and Collect are still down despite online orders being restarted in June, the retailer's boss said. Stuart Machin told the retailer's annual general meeting that after the brand goes 'fully on' the focus will then be on getting its Castle Donington distribution centre in the East Midlands 'back and running'. He said that 'we will have the vast majority of this behind us' by August. Hackers disrupted contactless payments and Click and Collect during the cyber attack in April. The retailer then confirmed that customer data had been stolen, although it said no passwords or card details were accessed. The attack will wipe around £300 million from this year's profits, the chain has estimated, with the losses only being partly covered by insurance. Online orders have resumed in England, Scotland and Wales, but customers in Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland are still waiting for the service. Mr Machin said: 'Currently, half of online is open but not areas like Click and Collect. Within the next four weeks we are hoping for the whole of online to be fully on. 'Then our focus will be getting the Donington site back and running.' The high street giant has previously said that the disruption to services will continue into June and July. Last week, it sent out e-gift cards to customers who had online orders cancelled or had click and collect orders delayed. A message on the M&S website today reads: 'We will resume Click & Collect, Next Day Delivery and UK Nominated Day Delivery for fashion and international ordering in the coming weeks.' More Trending The retailer is just one of many household names that have been hacked recently including Co-op, Harrods and Dior. In April, Co-op had to shut down its IT systems to stop hackers from snatching personal and financial information like shopper passwords or bank details. As with the M&S cyber attack, Co-op shoppers were left contending with empty shelves and deliveries being paused. Do you have a story you would like to share? Contact MORE: M&S online orders resumed six weeks after cyber-attack that cost them £300,000,000 MORE: M&S to face disruption from massive cyber attack for another two months MORE: Marks and Spencer says customer data was stolen in cyber attack
Fashion Network
19-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Father's Day sees intense spending build-up in final week, fragrance is key gift item
Fast delivery options ahead of the day were in high demand with 45% of all online orders processed in the week preceding Father's Day fulfilled by an 'Express Parcel with Signature' delivery service, 'highlighting shoppers' need for speed and certainty that their parcel would arrive in time'. And 16% of online orders placed in the week of Father's Day were delivered via Next Day, while 6% of shoppers cut it fine and opted for Sunday deliveries. Faster delivery services saw 'significant growth' overall during the week compared to 2024. Research by GlobalData had shown that 45% of UK consumers intended to participate in the occasion this year, a decrease of 2% on 2024 but with UK spending around the event predicted to rise by 1.8% to £1.12 billion. Meanwhile, fragrance remains a key gift option and The Perfume Shop, the UK's largest specialist perfume retailer, reported 'an outstanding sales period with a record 248,142 bottles sold over the two weeks in the run up to the big day, a 10% increase in sales' YOY. This equals around 12 sold every minute 'as perfume continues to prove itself to be an extremely popular gift choice at this time of year'. The retailer said people 'embraced both in-store and online shopping, with 69% of sales happening in physical stores (+9% YoY) and 31% online (+13% YoY)'. Shoppers were also willing to spend more, with the average customer spend rising to £66.99, up +2% compared to last year, a little ahead of that GlobalData estimate. And what were they buying? Boss Bottled, Rabanne Invictus Victory, YSL Myslf, and Dior Sauvage 'led the way. However, new fragrance launches also made their mark, with Boss Bottled Citrus and Montblanc Explorer Extreme standing out as top performers'. Regionally, Northern Ireland saw the highest uplift in sales at 12.6%, closely followed by Scotland with an 11.2% rise. Shoppers also 'embraced personalised gifting, looking for unique and thoughtful presents, with The Perfume Shop reporting over 1,488 bottles engraved and 18,214 personalised ribbons sold during the two-week run-up to Father's Day'.
Fashion Network
19-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Father's Day sees intense spending build-up in final week, fragrance is key gift item
Fast delivery options ahead of the day were in high demand with 45% of all online orders processed in the week preceding Father's Day fulfilled by an 'Express Parcel with Signature' delivery service, 'highlighting shoppers' need for speed and certainty that their parcel would arrive in time'. And 16% of online orders placed in the week of Father's Day were delivered via Next Day, while 6% of shoppers cut it fine and opted for Sunday deliveries. Faster delivery services saw 'significant growth' overall during the week compared to 2024. Research by GlobalData had shown that 45% of UK consumers intended to participate in the occasion this year, a decrease of 2% on 2024 but with UK spending around the event predicted to rise by 1.8% to £1.12 billion. Meanwhile, fragrance remains a key gift option and The Perfume Shop, the UK's largest specialist perfume retailer, reported 'an outstanding sales period with a record 248,142 bottles sold over the two weeks in the run up to the big day, a 10% increase in sales' YOY. This equals around 12 sold every minute 'as perfume continues to prove itself to be an extremely popular gift choice at this time of year'. The retailer said people 'embraced both in-store and online shopping, with 69% of sales happening in physical stores (+9% YoY) and 31% online (+13% YoY)'. Shoppers were also willing to spend more, with the average customer spend rising to £66.99, up +2% compared to last year, a little ahead of that GlobalData estimate. And what were they buying? Boss Bottled, Rabanne Invictus Victory, YSL Myslf, and Dior Sauvage 'led the way. However, new fragrance launches also made their mark, with Boss Bottled Citrus and Montblanc Explorer Extreme standing out as top performers'. Regionally, Northern Ireland saw the highest uplift in sales at 12.6%, closely followed by Scotland with an 11.2% rise. Shoppers also 'embraced personalised gifting, looking for unique and thoughtful presents, with The Perfume Shop reporting over 1,488 bottles engraved and 18,214 personalised ribbons sold during the two-week run-up to Father's Day'.
Fashion Network
19-06-2025
- Business
- Fashion Network
Father's Day sees intense spending build-up in final week, fragrance is key gift item
We hear a lot about the impact of Mother's day but less about Father's Day, perhaps understandable given that the latter is a smaller spend event. But two releases this week show that it remains key for early summer gifting. And UK and global e-commerce order volumes increased in the lead-up to Father's Day 2025, with year-on-year (YOY) growth reaching 18% ahead of Sunday 15 June, according to data from delivery management platform and post-purchase experience provider Scurri. It said that in the week of Father's Day (9-14 June) the highest order volumes occurred on Wednesday when they were up 22% YOY and Saturday (+20%) 'as shoppers were split between mid-week planned purchases and last-minute present buys'. Order volume dipped by 14% on Friday YOY, 'reflecting earlier purchasing or in anticipation of delivery deadlines'. Fast delivery options ahead of the day were in high demand with 45% of all online orders processed in the week preceding Father's Day fulfilled by an 'Express Parcel with Signature' delivery service, 'highlighting shoppers' need for speed and certainty that their parcel would arrive in time'. And 16% of online orders placed in the week of Father's Day were delivered via Next Day, while 6% of shoppers cut it fine and opted for Sunday deliveries. Faster delivery services saw 'significant growth' overall during the week compared to 2024. Research by GlobalData had shown that 45% of UK consumers intended to participate in the occasion this year, a decrease of 2% on 2024 but with UK spending around the event predicted to rise by 1.8% to £1.12 billion. Meanwhile, fragrance remains a key gift option and The Perfume Shop, the UK's largest specialist perfume retailer, reported 'an outstanding sales period with a record 248,142 bottles sold over the two weeks in the run up to the big day, a 10% increase in sales' YOY. This equals around 12 sold every minute 'as perfume continues to prove itself to be an extremely popular gift choice at this time of year'. The retailer said people 'embraced both in-store and online shopping, with 69% of sales happening in physical stores (+9% YoY) and 31% online (+13% YoY)'. Shoppers were also willing to spend more, with the average customer spend rising to £66.99, up +2% compared to last year, a little ahead of that GlobalData estimate. And what were they buying? Boss Bottled, Rabanne Invictus Victory, YSL Myslf, and Dior Sauvage 'led the way. However, new fragrance launches also made their mark, with Boss Bottled Citrus and Montblanc Explorer Extreme standing out as top performers'. Regionally, Northern Ireland saw the highest uplift in sales at 12.6%, closely followed by Scotland with an 11.2% rise. Shoppers also 'embraced personalised gifting, looking for unique and thoughtful presents, with The Perfume Shop reporting over 1,488 bottles engraved and 18,214 personalised ribbons sold during the two-week run-up to Father's Day'.
