Panther Warehousing, the two-man, white glove delivery specialist, has signed a two-year contract with iconic home furnishings brand Habitat following a successful working relationship over the past two years.

The award-winning company, based in Northampton, will continue to deliver bulky furniture such as sofas and beds for Habitat to customers seven days a week.

The partnership was forged in the wake of Habitat, founded in the swinging Sixties by style guru Sir Terence Conran, being bought by Sainsbury’s.

Habitat has been a by-word for original, affordable home furnishings for more than 50 years. Over 85% of customers now shop with the brand online at www.habitat.co.uk, but the store also has five standalone stores – in Westfield London, Tottenham Court Road, London, Finchley Road, London, Leeds and Brighton – as well as a network of Mini-Habitat stores within Sainsbury’s stores across the UK.

From the outset Panther has worked closely with Habitat and its growing online business to meet the challenges of delivering bulky items to customers across the UK in both urban and rural environments.

Delivering a best in class service is paramount to both Panther and Habitat and as such the two teams collaborate closely holding monthly meetings to monitor KPI’s, ensure a process of continuous improvement and discuss the introduction of new services.

Panther delivers all Habitat orders weighing more than 31 kilograms or are bulky enough to require two-man delivery. Customers can nominate a date of delivery that is convenient to them and book online.

Customers are kept in the loop, with a confirmatory text message the day before delivery and on the day, they will be advised of a two-hour delivery slot and told which number they are on their delivery team’s schedule for the day.

A track and trace system will also enable them to see where the delivery van is on its route shown on a map of their area. Crews will undertake soft assembly such as connecting corner sofas.

Gary McKelvey, Commercial Director, Panther, said: “We are delighted that Habitat, a brand that has been at the forefront of design for more than 50 years, has chosen Panther as its delivery partner for large and heavy items of home furniture.”

“While Habitat has designed goods to bring joy to customers, we have designed our delivery system to make the delivery experience as easy and convenient as possible for its customers.”

“Working with Panther to deliver an outstanding delivery service that builds trust with both our digital and in-store customers is a vital part to maintaining brand loyalty and ensuring that our service stands out against our online and high-street competitors,” comments Kevin McQuillan, Supply Chain & Distribution Manager for Habitat. “By offering bespoke delivery options every day of the week, our customers can feel more confident in purchasing big ticket items how and when they want with the knowledge that delivery can be easily suited around their own busy lifestyles.”

Amazon announced plans to build a new state-of-the-art Amazon Robotics innovation hub and create 200 tech and advanced manufacturing jobs in Westborough, Massachusetts.

Opening in 2021, the company plans to invest more than $40 million in the new site to allow Amazon Robotics to continue to grow its engineering, manufacturing, support and test teams in the state.

The new 350,000 square feet facility, developed by Atlantic Management of Framingham, MA, will feature corporate offices, research and development labs, and manufacturing space and will be in addition to Amazon Robotics’ current site in North Reading — together serving as the company’s epicenter of robotics innovation.

Amazon has created more than 4,000 full-time jobs in Massachusetts, and since 2011, invested more than $3 billion in the state, including infrastructure and compensation to our employees.

“We’re excited to grow our teams in Massachusetts and take advantage of the talent and regional connectivity that MetroWest offers,” said Tye Brady, Amazon Robotics’ Chief Technologist. “This will be a world-class facility, where our teams can design, build, program, and ship our robots, all under the same roof. This expansion will allow us to continue to innovate quickly and improve delivery speed for customers around the world.”

“Massachusetts is home to a nation-leading innovation economy with a highly educated and skilled workforce, and we are proud of the life-changing research and high quality of life that attracts leading companies to invest and grow here,” said Governor Charlie Baker. “We are pleased that Amazon plans to increase their substantial presence with a state-of-the-art robotics facility, creating 200 new jobs and employing over 4,000 skilled workers throughout the Commonwealth, furthering its continued investment in the state’s economic growth and development.”

“Industry leaders like Amazon continue to grow and expand in regional innovation economies like Westborough and across the MetroWest region, and we applaud their continued investment in robotics,” said Lt. Governor Karyn Polito. “We are grateful for this increased commitment to STEM careers and education, and are excited about the opportunities afforded by end-to-end capabilities, including design and advanced manufacturing, all in one site.”

“We are thrilled to welcome Amazon Robotics Division to Westborough! The investment of this international company in our community demonstrates the ability of the regional economy and its workforce to attract innovation and technology. We look forward to a strong partnership with Amazon Robotics,” said Kristi Williams, Town Manager, Westborough.

Amazon provides highly competitive benefits to full-time employees — from the company’s most senior executives to its hourly fulfillment center associates.

These benefits include comprehensive healthcare from day one, 401(k) retirement savings plan with company match, and up to 20-weeks of paid parental leave.

Through its Upskilling 2025 initiative, Amazon has also committed $700 million to programs aimed at providing its employees with the skills they need for new, in-demand jobs, from paid cloud computing apprenticeships to its Career Choice program, which pre-pays 95% of tuition for courses in in-demand fields, regardless of whether skills are relevant to a career at Amazon.

Investing and creating jobs in Massachusetts

Since 2011, Amazon has invested over $3 billion in Massachusetts, from building customer fulfillment infrastructure and research facilities to compensation to its teams. The company estimates that these direct investments in the state contributed an additional $2.4 billion to the Massachusetts’ economy and generated an additional 7,000 indirect jobs on top of the company’s direct hires.

There are also tens of thousands of small and medium-sized businesses, authors, and entrepreneurs in Massachusetts who are growing their businesses with tools like Marketplace, Fulfillment By Amazon, Kindle Direct Publishing, and Amazon Web Services.

As a part of Amazon’s ongoing commitment to the communities where employees live and work, the Amazon Future Engineer program — a childhood-to-career program to inspire, educate, and propel children and young adults from underserved and underrepresented communities to try computer science — serves more than 10 million students each year across the country.

In Massachusetts specifically, Amazon Future Engineer is funding computer science classes in more than 40 high schools across the state. Amazon is also proud to support St. Mary’s Center for Women and Children, a leader in supporting families and empowering women experiencing homelessness in the Boston area.

Through its partnership with Amazon, St. Mary’s Center has raised nearly $2.7 million to fund a new Community Resource Center on its Dorchester campus, which supports families transitioning to permanent housing and those on the brink of homelessness.

The award-winning return logistics software business, ZigZag Global, announced investment from Maersk Growth – the corporate venture arm of the global leader in transport and logistics, A.P. Moller – Maersk.

ZigZag’s innovative SaaS platform addresses meaningful customer pain points within return logistics. Retail consumers continue to “over-order” and increasingly view generous returns policies as a core part of retail convention. Returns have increasingly become part of the “new normal” for e-commerce and multi-channel retailers and return logistics continue to drive significant cost, complexity and waste in the retail supply chain.

In some retail segments returns are reaching up to 50% of total sales and with the predicted annual e-commerce growth of over 20%, according to some industry analysts, online and multichannel retailers need to find more innovative and sustainable solutions.

Oliver Finch, Investor at Maersk Growth, said: “We are excited to support ZigZag’s ongoing growth. Returns are a huge, costly and often under-managed component of the e-commerce experience. ZigZag helps retailers to reduce the cost and complexity of managing returns with its leading-edge software and functionality. ZigZag’s solution provides granular visibility of returns and drives seamless coordination of service providers. This dramatically simplifies the complex process of returns from the business and consumer perspective. Retailers and customers alike benefit from these improvements and efficiency gains – via increased speed and quality of return logistics, broader customer engagement and care options, and a clear reduction in the costs and waste associated with retail returns.”

Al Gerrie, Founder of ZigZag, added: “We are delighted to welcome Maersk on board as an investor and strategic partner, as we continue our mission to provide a market leading returns solution. In addition to allowing us to reach more customers whilst remaining carrier agnostic, the funding and Maersk’s extensive reach and expertise will allow us to further develop our product offering to deliver even more value for retailers throughout the supply chain.”

Existing customer performance studies demonstrate that ZigZag’s platform can reduce costs and waste associated with retail returns by up to 57%. The company can also meaningfully reduce the environmental impact of returns and contribute to corporate sustainability goals.

Enhanced visibility and data capture can identify opportunities to manage returns within country of sale. In some cases, this has reduced parcel journey lengths by up to 65%. At scale, this results in measurable reduction in waste and carbon footprint in the existing retail supply chain.

ZigZag’s solution is well aligned with Maersk’s vision of enabling more sustainable global supply chains, and consistent with Maersk’s wider ambitions to become the end-to-end container logistics provider.

Ian Nolan, ZigZag Director & Partner at Circularity Capital, commented: “We see significant value in the strategic alignment between Maersk’s position as a global leader in logistics and transport and ZigZag’s powerful returns solution. Circularity Capital is a specialist Private Equity firm founded to identify, enable and generate value from opportunities created by the circular economy. ZigZag is a great example of a company actively decoupling commercial growth and value creation from resource constraints, enhancing productivity to drive competitive advantage. We welcome Maersk onboard as a fellow investor and look forward to working closely with them to continue to support the growth of ZigZag going forward”.

ZigZag serves a number of well-known brands, including: Topshop, Selfridges, Superdry and GAP. Investment will further accelerate the rollout of the solution to retailers of all sizes and expand strategic development opportunities.