By Paul Page 

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Wal-Mart Stores Inc. is stepping up its battle with Amazon.com Inc., with shipping at the center of the competition. Wal-Mart is expanding its free two-day shipping program to any U.S. customer and seeking to list far more items on its website, a direct challenge to Amazon and its popular Prime program, the WSJ's Sarah Nassauer and Loretta Chao report. The move shows Wal-Mart believes the steps it has taken to improve its fulfillment capabilities have put the company in better position to compete head-on for the growing slice of retail sales that take place online. Wal-Mart, which has been struggling with sluggish U.S. sales growth, has made bolstering its ecommerce operation a top priority and is investing $2 billion in the business. Wal-Mart may gain customers with its plan, but serving them profitably may be another matter. The rapid home delivery consumers want is costly to execute, and retailers have seen margins wither as they try to position goods for both online sales and store fulfillment.

Amazon's effort to control its own supply chain runs in two directions. While Amazon is building a network to handle its logistics, the e-commerce giant is rolling out private-label packaged foods aimed at taking more of the perishables retail market, the WSJ's Greg Bensinger reports. The launch into the business is starting quietly with coffee and baby food, allowing Amazon to test new products that generally come with high profit margins. Such in-house brands can be lucrative for manufacturers and retailers because of lower development and marketing costs. And they allow Amazon to design packaging to reduce shipping costs. Amazon certainly seems to want the private-label goods embedded in its logistics business: the labor for its new Happy Belly coffee says it's part of AFS Brands Inc. -- AFS, for Amazon Fulfillment Services.

DB Schenker is trying to close the digital divide in its freight business. The Germany-based business, one of the world's largest freight forwarders, is hiring Texas-based uShip Inc. to connect shippers with trucking companies online, WSJ Logistics Report's Erica E. Phillips writes. The deal is a seemingly unlikely tie-up between a global freight specialist and a 13-year-old Texas-based niche operator that links small shippers to carriers. But a growing field of tech startups is challenging freight haulers, and the big traditional logistics operators that depend on industrial business generally have lagged behind those smaller and more nimble companies. Industry experts expect to see more such agreements, as changing demands in the shipping market push big players to make their businesses more digitally savvy.

TRANSPORTATION

Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. will get smaller in line with what the freight railroad says is shrinking shipping demand. CP will lay off 500 maintenance workers starting today as the carrier braces for a sharp slide in revenue in the second quarter, saying that even once-strong grain shipments aren't providing the help the carrier needs. Martin Cej, an executive at the railroad, tells WSJ's Jade Markus, "The economic growth in North America right now is slow." CP has already projected a 12% decline in revenue this quarter, and events such as the Alberta wildfires have added to the general demand downturn hitting all railroads. The Association of American Railroads says overall North American carload and intermodal volume is off 7.5% so far this year and is off 7.7% for the Canadian railroads.

Companies in Britain are trying to keep a stiff upper lip while pleading for the U.K. to keep access to the European single market. The push by businesses ranging from auto manufacturers to candy maker Mars Inc. is part of the growing corporate effort ito minimize the impact of the U.K. vote last week to exit the European Union. Access to the single market is a high priority, but the WSJ's Robert Wall and Saabira Chaudhuri write that how Britain can keep that access is unclear. U.K. auto makers are relatively sanguine over the short-term impact of the "Brexit," but many say the long-term impact depends on what trade deals are struck. Meanwhile, shipping analysts Alphaliner sees "little direct impact" on container shipping. "The county's decline as a maritime center for the container shipping sector had started long before the 'Brexit' decision, " Alphaliner said in a report.

QUOTABLE

IN OTHER NEWS

Istanbul's main airport resumed business after a terror attack at a passenger terminal killed 41 people and injured dozens. (WSJ)

Exxon Mobil Corp. is lobbying rivals to support a carbon tax. (WSJ)

Two railroad employees were killed and another was presumed dead following the fiery collision of two BNSF Railway trains in Texas.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will provide scales to help shippers comply with a new container-weighing rule. (WSJ)

General Motors Co.'s U.S. market share is shrinking partly because the auto maker can't keep up with demand for pickup trucks and sport-utility vehicles. (WSJ)

Alcoa Inc. detailed its plans to split its commodities and its equipment businesses in two. (WSJ)

Agricultural equipment maker Agco Corp. will buy Cimbria Holdings Ltd. in a move to boost its seed and grain processing business. (WSJ)

The flight attendants' union at United Continental Holdings Inc. agreed to send a proposed contract to a membership vote. (WSJ)

Hyundai Merchant Marine Co. Ltd.'s creditor-led restructuring will be extended by one month as its bid to join a global shipping alliance takes shape. (Yonhap)

Russia President Vladimir Putin extended the country's ban on imports of Western food until the end of 2017. (Daily Mail)

Supply-chain software company E2open Inc. acquired Orchestro, a retail data analytics provider. (Modern Materials Handling)

Pfizer Inc. will invest $350 million in a biotech hub in China. (Reuters)

German manufacturers are ahead of U.S. companies in implementing "Internet of Things" technology. (manufacturing.net)

Shareholders in e-commerce investment giant Rocket Internet are frustrated with the financial returns from several online delivery startups. (Fortune)

http://fortune.com/2016/06/29/rocket-internet-growth-slows/

Specialized online clothing retailer Trunk Club will close its Chicago-area distribution center and work through parent Nordstrom Inc.'s fulfillment. ( Chicago Tribune)

Startup luxury fashion producers want to bypass stores and sell goods directly to consumers. (Fast Company)

Residents in Palmer Township, Pa., in eastern Pennsylvania are fighting a Werner Enterprises Inc. plan to build a truck terminal and rest stop. (WFMZ)

Indian craft beer startup Bira91 hopes $10 million in new funding will solve supply-chain gaps that left the business nearly without brews. (Quartz)

ABOUT US

Paul Page is deputy editor of WSJ Logistics Report. Follow him at @PaulPage, and follow the entire WSJ Logistics Report team: @brianjbaskin, @lorettachao, @RWhelanWSJ and @EEPhillips_WSJ, and follow the WSJ Logistics Report on Twitter at @WSJLogistics.

Subscribe to this email newsletter by clicking here: http://on.wsj.com/Logisticsnewsletter .

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 30, 2016 06:49 ET (10:49 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2016 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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