Dean Maciuba, Managing Partner North America at Crossroads Parcel Consulting, discusses the two US retail giants - Target and Walmart - and the competition with Amazon in the last mile:

• Walmart and Target's retail footprint, and where their stores are located
• Grocery as part of Walmart's retail offering
• Target and Shipt - and its success in BOPIS (buy online, pickup in store)
• Walmart and Target responding to Amazon's efforts in e-commerce and fast fulfilment / delivery
• Micro fulfilment centres vs regional fulfilment centres in supporting same-day delivery
• The advantage Walmart and Target have over Amazon in retail sites supporting fast delivery
• US consumers embracing BOPIS / click-and-collect
• Customers returning to bricks-and-mortar retailers
• FedEx stores in Walmart locations
• Returns and the physical network advantage
• UPS Store being used for Amazon e-commerce returns
• Third party returns via Walmart and Target stores
• Parcel lockers in US retailers for delivery and returns
• Walmart's GoLocal last mile delivery service
• Walmart+ in-home delivery to the garage... or even the refigerator!
• Security concerns about e-commerce delivery (including lockers)
• Transit times - Amazon dominating in one-day Prime
• Amazon's US fulfilment centre network and faster delivery times