by Brittain Ladd | Oct 26, 2026 | E-Commerce, Grocery, Microfulfillment, Retail
DoorDash is on the verge of buying Instacart. On October 23, The Information reported that Instacart had hired an investment bank and held talks with DoorDash and Uber. Three days later, Semafor reported that DoorDash is in exclusive talks, and The Wall Street Journal...
by Brittain Ladd | Sep 30, 2026 | AI, Humanoid Robots, Shipbuilding
Shipbuilding has an access problem, not a welding problem The humanoid robot industry has decided that shipyards need a mechanical welder shaped like a person. I believe that is the wrong robot for the job. Walk into a ship block under construction. Stiffeners run...
by Brittain Ladd | Jan 6, 2025 | Delivery, E-Commerce, Grocery, Logistics, Microfulfillment, No Retreat, No Surrender, Retail, Strategy, Supply Chains
In 2013, executives at Lidl made the decision to enter the U.S. grocery market. Lidl is a German-owned discounter that operates over 12,000 stores located in 31 countries. Lidl competes on price hence the reason why it is referred to as a discounter. Lidl sells around...
by Brittain Ladd | Jan 1, 2025 | AI, Delivery, E-Commerce, Grocery, Logistics, Microfulfillment, No Retreat, No Surrender, Retail
This article originally appeared in Forbes. July 8, 2018 Aside from Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, few grocers generated as much press and excitement in 2017 than Lidl’s arrival in the United States. Opening its headquarters in Arlington, Virginia,...
by Brittain Ladd | Oct 13, 2024 | Delivery, E-Commerce, Grocery, Logistics, Microfulfillment, No Retreat, No Surrender, Retail
In The Beginning I joined Amazon in 2014. My first role was designing strategies for Amazon to become a 3PL. I have extensive supply chain and logistics experience. I then transferred into a team focused on designing fulfillment strategies for groceries. To ensure...