As holiday peak approaches, retailers face a familiar choice. Shoppers want more options and fast delivery. Extra stock ties up cash, raises markdown risk, and complicates planning. DSW and Marks & Spencer took a third route: expand assortments through partner networks, keep firm control of fulfillment, and build on systems already in place. Rithum provided the operational layer so teams could see what was happening, add suppliers quickly, and protect delivery promises when volumes rose. 

DSW grows online presence with high-performing dropship operations 

DSW set a clear goal: give online shoppers the same breadth they see in stores, without lowering accuracy or service. Dropship opened the door to a larger catalog. As partners multiplied, holding vendors to DSW’s standards got harder. 

The retailer turned to Rithum to upgrade and expand its dropship operations. Teams gained a live view of performance, onboarded brands faster, and corrected issues the day they appeared. The catalog kept growing while delivery promises held up in busy periods. 

The impact: 

• Nearly 100% fill rate year-round 

• 250 brands live on the platform 

• 152 supplier connections through rapid onboarding 

• Ability to track and act on vendor performance in real time 

Read the full case study 

Marks & Spencer expands digitally without new inventory 

Marks & Spencer, one of the UK’s most recognized retailers, aimed to expand digitally without buying more inventory. The team needed one way to connect partners, products, and channels so growth would not add operational strain. 

Rithum’s Commerce Suite provided that flexibility. With Commerce Suite M&S connected supplier onboarding, order management, and returns in a single flow that fit its existing systems. Partners went live faster. Teams worked from the same data. Customers saw a wider range of products while service stayed consistent through seasonal swings. 

The impact: 

• New partners onboarded quickly and efficiently 

• Broader assortment without holding more inventory 

• Unified operations across systems and channels 

Read the full case study 

What these outcomes share 

Both retailers used partnerships as the growth lever and relied on one system to run the work. That pattern let them widen choice without cutting into on-time delivery or order accuracy: 

• Supplier onboarding ran as a repeatable process, so new brands moved from yes to live quickly. 

• A single view of orders and supplier performance guided daily decisions. 

• Live signals drove action to keep fulfillment standards steady, especially during holiday peak. 

Why this matters now 

Leaders want breadth without freezing cash in extra inventory and want vendors held to clear standards. They want to build on the stack they have. These two examples show a practical path to all three as holiday peak season nears. 

Want to learn how Rithum can help your business? Schedule a demo with our team today. 

The post How DSW and Marks & Spencer scaled without stocking more inventory  appeared first on Rithum.

Retail teams balance cost, speed, partners, and margin every day. When volume rises, small issues can snowball, and time is tight. You need a plan that helps you move quickly while keeping customers confident in your ability to deliver. Holiday peak is already taking shape, and signals point in the same direction: earlier demand and higher shipping costs. During July’s deal stretch, U.S. shoppers spent $24.1 billion across July 8-11, up 30% year over year, according to Adobe Business. Back-to-school behavior supports that shift with 67% of K-12 and college shoppers already shopping by mid-July, the earliest start share since NRF began tracking. 

Shipping carriers are also preparing for the rush. USPS filed temporary peak-season price changes for Oct. 5, 2025 through Jan. 18, 2026, and UPS and FedEx have published demand-surcharge updates that begin as early as late September. 

Late handoffs, higher transport costs, and visibility gaps happen. That is normal. You do not need to fix everything at once. Start by setting a reliable date at checkout, keep eyes on the steps that might put that date at risk, and choose the lowest cost method that still meets it. Lets walk through how to put this into practice so your team stays fast, accurate, and in control for the holiday rush.

Set the date customers can count on 

A reliable delivery date is the anchor of customers’ post-purchase experience. Predict a precise arrival date and present it at the digital checkout, so that the estimate that customers see is the estimate you meet. This is what Rithum’s Delivery Promise is designed to do, using real signals to calculate precise arrival dates that align with how shipments actually move.  

Once the date is set, track how well you keep it. Use a single view of orders from creation to delivery, with alerts when handoffs are late or a shipment stalls. End-to-End (E2E) Monitoring provides dashboards and real time notifications so teams can spot issues early and avoid costly delays. One retailer raised on-time delivery from 94% to 99% during peak holiday season using E2E Monitoring. 

Spend only where risk deserves it 

After promise accuracy is stable, protect margin. Choose the lowest cost shipping method that still meets the date. Shipping Optimization compares carriers and service levels and automatically selects the best option for each order, which cuts down on manual routing and unnecessary upgrades.  

Why better data makes better dates 

Your predictions are only as good as the information behind them. Rithum connects brands, retailers, and suppliers at scale, which strengthens the signal used to set delivery dates, pick cost-effective ship methods, and surface problems early. More than 40,000 global brands use our products and services.  

What to do next 

• Set the date and measure it. Replace broad delivery windows with a single day whenever you can. Track the share of orders delivered by the date shown at checkout and make it a weekly metric everyone can see using Delivery Promise. 

• Watch each order from click to doorstep. Turn on alerts for late handoffs, missed scans, packages sitting too long at a carrier facility, and final mile delays so teams act before customers ask by using E2E Monitoring.  

• Pick the best method for each order. Keep the lowest cost option that still meets the date. Let Shipping Optimization make that choice automatically.  

Peak periods will test these choices. Outcomes depend on your starting point and implementation, but the path is consistent: set a clear promise, track the steps that put it at risk, and spend only when the data says you need to. Learn more here. 

Madison Jarvis is Senior Product Marketer, Retailers, at Rithum.

The post Holiday peak 2025: keep your delivery promises  appeared first on Rithum.

Significant growth for key categories

According to some experts, purchase behavior shifted from the first day of the Amazon Prime Day sale to the second, initially starting with a surge in shopping for household essentials and grocery items. This was attributed to the higher cost of daily goods and more budget-conscious shoppers spending less during the first day of the event. The second day saw more purchases in higher value categories like electronics. These were attributed to the merchant’s heavy promotions toward Amazon’s own electronic brand offerings.

Prime day historically has been a top event for specific category growth on a national and global level. This October’s event further reinforced that trend, according to Digital Commerce 360. Specific categories of note were:

• 36% growth for electronics
• 36% growth for general apparel
• 21% growth for health and beauty

These categories are consistently high performers year after year, especially as the brand and product competition within each category continues to increase. We also expect social commerce to sell well in these categories through social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram this holiday season.

Millennial shopper trends

The millennial shopper has been the highest spending demographic group in previous Amazon Prime events. However, this demographic’s purchase power has declined. The rationale for their reduced spending could be that they are savvy shoppers and therefore take more energy from advertisers and retailers alike to gain trust and establish creditability. While deals can be attractive to these consumers, they rely more heavily on their peers for reviews and word of mouth creditability. As this will be a continued expectation of this generational shopper, it is advised that brands and sellers incorporate story telling into their overall campaigns and messaging to target millennial consumers in future.

Retail media campaign ad type trends

As retail media continues to grow and rely on first-party (1P) audiences for reach and efficiency, it is no surprise that activity within Amazon DSP (demand-side platform) experienced an increase in advertising spending and activity during Prime Day events. Coupling Amazon DSP and AMC (Amazon Marketing Cloud) is a compelling strategy for maximizing ad spend while leveraging the most targeted audiences during sales events. Concurrently, sponsored product and sponsored brand ads saw an increase in advertiser spend but performed less efficiently or received fewer clicks. Brands will continue to diversify campaigns within a retailer ecosystem to maximize reach and exposure.

Applying Prime Day seller strategy to peak season and Cyber 5

With the increased pressure to maximize sales during Prime Days, brands and retailers need to focus on what will serve them best during these high traffic days. During the holiday peak season, sellers can combine refreshed page optimization with product prioritization based on “digital share of shelf” data such as the amount of competitors in the category or the amount of reach a campaign has had.

During peak selling, there is more emphasis on boosting budgets. But it is important to remember that prioritization of products remains a key component of sales strategy.

Retailers and brands use promotions to attract consumers

While Amazon hosts two of the largest e-commerce sales each year, other retailers are deploying their own sales strategies to compete. Walmart hosted a June members-only weekly long sale, quickly followed by a July sale directly competing with the first of the two annual Amazon Prime sales events. Target held Target Circle week from July 7-July 13. Other niche retailers such as Petco, Chewy and others also lowered some prices in a price match effort while Prime events run to offer shoppers compelling discounts. We expect a similar strategy during the holiday shopping season.

Shoppers are comparison price shopping online. 83% of global consumers will visit two or more websites before buying, according to the 2023 Online Consumer Behavior Global Report by Rithum and research firm Dynata.

Apply lessons from Amazon Prime Days in real-time

Rithum’s centralized dashboard provides brands and retailers with a view of operations to track and synchronize fulfillment, inventory and orders across multiple channels. Features like Rithum’s repricer automation, performance monitoring, stock alerts, order routing and management, shipping integration, and returns management help sellers avoid errors on marketplace listings.

For retail media, Rithum’s team creates custom reports that provide data-driven insights. It uses campaign monitoring data, which contains thousands of campaigns, to help achieve optimal performance as well as help prevent incorrect bids or ad pauses. Holiday readiness reports help brands identify what worked during peak events like Amazon Prime Days and what needs improvement before the holiday rush. Rithum’s actionable insights show sellers what to consider when refining strategy for holiday shopping as well as make changes during Black Friday and Cyber Monday peak selling days.

Learn how Rithum’s integrated commerce solution can help you navigate the holiday shopping season on marketplaces by scheduling a demo today.

Meghan Barden is director of global retail media at Rithum.

The post How to Use Amazon Prime Day Lessons During the Peak Holiday Season appeared first on Rithum.

What can you do to jumpstart your holiday season and ensure bountiful performance the whole year through? Start formulating your strategy and marking your calendars for must-know deadlines in areas like:

• Pricing and profitability
• Marketing and advertising
• Inventory management

Our new 2023 Holiday E-Commerce Guide features industry research, pro tips and reminders to help you along the way. 

List and Price Strategically

Price remains the top factor in consumer product research and purchases. At the same time, e-commerce faces a slippery slope of high return rates. The best way to ensure long-lasting purchase and satisfied customers? Ironclad product listings. 

• Finalize your catalog assortment. Make selling decisions before Q3 is over (and much sooner if possible) to ensure adequate inventory for the holiday season. Not sure what to choose? Look to past performance metrics and advertising activity for a complete picture. 
• Fine-tune your listings. Use your product detail pages to set expectations and reduce the chance of returns. Pump listings full of accurate keywords, helpful product details and engaging images. 
• Proactively look for errors. Appoint a team member to regularly review listings for errors and compliance. Or, employ automation to ensure accuracy every time. 

Invest in Advertising

Advertising is a no-brainer when it comes to boosting your holiday exposure in highly saturated channels. But it’s not as simple as flipping a switch. Before you buy ad space, make sure you have the budget and inventory to make your campaigns successful. 

• Develop a strategy. Think through all the pieces of your holiday advertising. Allocate budget, set specific goals, double-check your listing accuracy and set reminders for campaign launch and follow-up.
• Take advantage of retail media. Check with the marketplaces you sell on to see if they offer network-specific advertising. Then, optimize your content so shoppers are engaged from the first exposure. 
• Budget properly. Before you start advertising, set aside the budget you’ll need on a weekly and monthly basis. Confirm your ad placement locations are relevant to your product category(ies) so your money goes to good use.

Monitor Inventory and Fulfillment

With high storage costs, continuing inflation and increased return rates, keeping your inventory in check is harder than ever — but especially crucial during the holiday season. To get ahead, start early in setting a plan to manage and monitor inventory throughout the holiday season and beyond.

• Prep your inventory. Set deadlines and reminders to check and replenish your stock. Or, employ an inventory tracking system to automatically monitor available stock in real time, ensuring customers have accurate availability of nearby products. 
• Meet delivery expectations. Will your partners be able to keep up with your forecasted holiday sales? Conduct a thorough review of your fulfillment and shipping logistics so you can set realistic expectations with customers.

Stay on Track Throughout the Holiday Season with Rithum

Nervous about managing all the moving pieces of your e-commerce machine this holiday season? A centralized e-commerce platform makes it easy to monitor everything — from product data and channel requirements to ad campaigns and fulfillment — in one place. Rithum’s complete multichannel solution ensures you can get ahead (and stay ahead) the entire time. 

Get your copy of our 2023 Holiday E-Commerce Guide for upcoming brand and retailer deadlines, holiday selling tips and more.

The post 2023 Holiday Guide: Tips and Can’t-Miss Deadlines appeared first on Rithum.

Not exactly. There’s still plenty you can do to manage the holiday rush and ensure a smooth season. Our Rithum Managed Services experts put together a list of “quick hits” to help you tie a bow around your 2022 holiday efforts. 

10 Last-Minute Holiday Planning Tips

You may have gotten a head start this year in anticipation of holiday challenges like supply constraints and economic pressures. Or maybe this holiday season got ahead of you and now your team is scrambling for holiday e-commerce best practices. Regardless, we recommend these quick tips to help you tie up loose ends as the holiday season approaches.

Ensure Stock for Fulfillment Services

If you work with a third-party fulfillment service like Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) or Walmart Fulfillment Services (WFS), you should be in the process of stocking them with plenty of your top-selling items for the holiday. Ensure adequate supply now so you don’t have to spend money or increase stress rushing later.

Identify and Publicize Your Last Ship Date

Calculate your last possible ship date to ensure delivery by December 25. Pair this with your shipping carrier’s last send dates and make it clear to customers so there are no surprises.

Account for Lead Times

Review your on-time delivery metrics, and assess whether or not you need to adjust lead times for fulfillment and delivery.

Prevent Overselling

Keep tabs on inventory and listings to prevent overselling, especially on Amazon, resulting in frustrated customers. Implement a “supply buffer” so you always have some stock on hand.

Avoid Big Changes

Now is not the time to be trying something new. Avoid big changes in your e-commerce setup, including pricing strategies and product description page setups. Instead, adopt an “all hands on deck” approach that highlights your biggest strengths and doubles down on advertising and promotions. 

Know Your Deadlines

Anticipate marketplace cutoffs for adding new products to the site. Adjust accordingly and list all your items as soon as possible. 

Set Up Critical Data Monitoring

Make sure reliable monitoring is in place for your feeds, quantity/price updates, orders, listing errors and top-selling items. That way, you can stay focused on urgent needs and the bigger seasonal picture when you’re in the thick of holiday selling. 

Double-Check Promotional Pricing

Double- and triple-check any promotional pricing you have scheduled through a deal planner or promotional fields. Check pricing is correct and dates are formatted correctly. Make sure to allot extra time for your feeds on marketplaces that have longer processing times.

Boost Last-Minute Advertising

Go big! Plan to boost your advertising and retail media spend in the final weeks before Cyber 5 and Christmas. This is also an appropriate time to increase your budget caps. 

Watch Marketplace KPIs

Keep a sharp eye on your marketplace KPIs to avoid suspension during Q4. 

The Time Is Now

This is what you’ve been waiting all year to execute. Make sure your program is all buttoned up to not only put your best foot forward among digital shoppers, but also ensure the best turnout at the end of the 2022 holiday season. 

Need help? Rithum Managed Services leans on decades of holiday planning expertise to help e-commerce brands and retailers get ready for the biggest selling season of the year. Contact us for guidance and a more confident approach to your Q4 sales.

The post Scrambling Before the Holidays? Try These 10 E-Commerce Tips appeared first on Rithum.

Perhaps your forecasting is off or you ordered too much supply. Whether you have a solid inventory management strategy or not, there are plenty of profitable ways to recoup your investment. 

8 Ways to Get Rid of Excess Inventory

At Rithum, we’ve seen sellers come up with some remarkably inventive ways to squeeze as much value as possible out of each and every SKU — even when making way for new inventory. Need better ideas than the tried and true BOGO? Try these tips next time you’re looking to free up warehouse space:

Step Up Paid Search

Perhaps you already employed a basic advertising strategy to sell excess inventory. But with so many advanced advertising opportunities for reaching consumers on dominant channels like Google, Amazon and Facebook, digital marketing is still a strong option for locating new, purchase-ready consumers.

You may have to get a little aggressive with your paid search campaigns, particularly after peak seasons. The trick is finding the right keywords based on current trends and traffic. Think like a shopper by bidding on terms like “holiday clearance.” Or, select long-tail key phrases that correspond to your stock since they tend to cost less and convert more.

Expand Marketplace Reach

Are you sure you’re marketing in the right place? Different marketplaces meet different shopper needs. Consider all your buying personas and the corresponding niche marketplaces that could help you reach new audiences. 

Case in point: eBay. This popular marketplace has changed a lot in recent years, and now offers tons of incentives through its Promotions Manager to help sellers advertise and liquidate goods. It’s also a great place to bundle offers that go well together, particularly in the wake of peak seasons when you may be looking for ways to make the most of holiday returns. 

Pro tip: Don’t forget to sync your inventory across channels. 

Focus on Fulfillment

Today, 42% of shoppers expect a two-day shipping option for every online purchase — not just those on Amazon. Could lengthy shipping times and high costs be to blame for poor sales volume? 

Sometimes, it’s just how you position shipping that affects a buyer’s decision. Whether you lower your threshold for free deliveries or use data to guide your pricing strategies, shifting the focus to fulfillment may be all you need in some instances to start seeing a pickup in sales.

If that sounds too overwhelming, it may be time to consider third-party logistics. Working with a 3PL provider can put important details in the hands of experts who specialize in various aspects of order and inventory management.

Try Automated Repricing

You want to stay competitive with other sellers — but who has time to manually monitor price variations across hundreds of listings? Automated repricing tools automatically adjust your prices to remain competitive and align with your goals. Choose from: 

• A marketplace repricer, which uses algorithmic* pricing technology to help you win the Buy Box or Best Offer position at the highest possible price
• A velocity repricer, where prices are adjusted automatically based on your goals — whether you want to extract more margin on fast-selling products or lower prices when sales are slow

*An algorithmic strategy focuses on winning the sale for your listings at the highest possible price, whereas a rule-based strategy sets a price relative to your competition. 

Bundle Items

Sell complementary items as a bundle or try a kitting technique like “buy 1, get 1 free” to move more product and increase average order value. This not only helps you get rid of excess inventory, but provides a more convenient shopping experience for customers. 

Product variations can also be part of bundled listings. Group individual products and keep your quantities in sync across bundles, individual SKUs and channels. 

Get Social

Boost visibility by promoting deals and new bundles on all your social media channels, especially Instagram and TikTok. According to our 2022 Online Consumer Behavior survey, 55% of 18- to 25-year-old US shoppers have discovered products they’ve purchased on social media in the past 12 months.  

Further, Shoppable Media makes your social media campaigns actionable when consumers are most engaged. Website and campaign widgets allow you to guide eager shoppers to where they can buy your products online or locally.

Promote Daily Deals

Bring added attention to products you have in excess with daily deals that showcase their features and/or offer a discount. Then, promote the deals across all your channels, from email to social to web. This not only boosts sales, but keeps audiences engaged in your daily content, building relationships for the long-term and future promotions.

Retarget Customers From Similar Products

Retargeting is especially important in the age of multiple devices. Appeal to audiences who purchase or shop for complementary products in one channel (e.g., mobile) with ads that showcase your excess inventory in others (e.g., Instagram). The more they see your ad across channels, the more they’ll be reminded to purchase. You can also target older customers who haven’t purchased in awhile as a way to reengage them today and for future promotions. 

Effective Inventory Management is Possible

Inventory management is one of the most complex parts of e-commerce. That’s why we’ve carefully designed product data and inventory management tools to help you plan ahead, strategize and make the biggest return on your investments as possible. When you can visualize your inventory across all active channels, you can better prevent underselling (or overselling) scenarios.

Surplus inventory too overwhelming? Let our Rithum Managed Services experts guide you toward equilibrium again. Contact us today to learn how we help brands and retailers automate inventory management and offload excess stock. 

Looking for specific ways to eliminate inventory as a retailer? We’ve created strategies tailored just for you here.

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Editor’s note: This blog post was originally published in September 2019 and was updated in October 2022 for accuracy and comprehensiveness.

The post Excess Inventory Management: How to Get Rid of Excess Inventory appeared first on Rithum.