By: Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

Riley Life strives to incorporate eco-friendly alternatives into the fulfillment business whenever possible.  Substituting green options for less environmentally friendly options is a passion of ours, and we would like to spread the word about some companies that can help you do this as well.  Each of the companies below offers their own unique solutions to packaging and fulfillment.  Riley Life has not used all of them but has had the opportunity to utilize a number of their products.  We have been overly satisfied and encourage you to look into some of these eco-friendly alternatives.

Geami

The actual breakdown of the word geami means “earth friend.”  It is a combination of the Greek word Geo for earth and the Latin word Ami for friend.  This earth friendly packaging system consists of a dispenser that rolls out a layer of tissue-like paper on top of a layer of thicker honey combed paper.  Together these can be used to wrap and secure products.  Not only is it recyclable and biodegradable, but it is also more attractive than bubble wrap.

http://www.geami.com/

ExpandOS

ExpandOS has created paper pyramids that cling together to serve the same purpose as packing  peanuts, to absorb shock and reduce movement of the product being shipped.  These pyramids are  proven to protect products of various shapes, weights, and fragility.  Constructed from quality waste created by the box industry, this eco-friendly alternative is recyclable as well as reusable.

http://expandos.com/

EcoEnclose

EcoEnclose’s mission is to reduce landfill waste, and they are doing so by offering packaging products that are compostable, biodegradable, and recycled.  Their products range from biodegradable poly and bubble mailers to 100% recycled boxes to eco-friendly carton sealing tape.  EcoEnclose even offers a customization option if you would like your product personalized.

http://www.ecoenclose.com/

Ecovative Design

Ecovative Design has created an extremely unique form of packaging material called EcoCradle.  From the way it is produced to its disposal options, EcoCradle is truly revolutionary.  The creators of this product have combined agricultural crop byproducts with fungal mycelium (roots of mushrooms) to form a rigid material used for packaging.  This process requires significantly less energy then it takes to manufacture synthetic foams.  Because EcoCradle is 100% biodegradable, it can be used when composting, gardening, or even thrown away without harming the environment’s ecosystem.

http://www.mushroompackaging.com/

FP International

Free-Flow International Inc., also known as FP International, has expanded its product line over the past decade to offer a wide range of innovative protective packaging products and packaging systems.  It uses recycled materials to create biodegradable products that range from their SUPER 8 green loosefill packing peanuts to CELL-O green air cushions.  For products that involve inflation, FP International has created inflator equipment and will install these custom systems for you.

http://www.fpintl.com/

Globe Guard Products

Globe Guard Products are similar to those of EcoEnclose.  They have everything from box sealing tape to corrugated boxes, to plastic mailers.  Their corrugated boxes are made from 100% post consumer waste, which is a significantly higher percentage than most box suppliers.  Globe Guard Products has a unique system where 1% of your online purchase goes to For the Planet.  This is just one way that they show their devotion to the environment.

http://www.globeguardproducts.com/ 

Riley Life will continue to be a source of reference to those looking to replace their current packaging options with more environmentally friendly ones.  We will continue to update our blog as we find more companies to add to our list of eco-friendly packaging alternatives.  If any of our readers have suggestions of additional companies that we may have missed or have not heard about, please feel free to comment or contact us so that we can get the word out!

 

By Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

The Riley Life logo is moving right along.  A lot of decisions have been made bringing us that much closer to our final logo.  During round three of our meeting, we finally landed on official colors – grey and blue!  Grey had been a favorite from the beginning and combined with blue became the front-runner to red and green.

We decided on the open box with an image “growing” out from the inside.  The different images range from fireworks to vines to a full tree.  Although some very neat fonts were introduced throughout this process, we are going with the more traditional letters (see the logo with the fireworks).

Font color combinations were also a hot topic in our latest discussion.  Now that we have settled in on a font, we have to decide which words will be blue and which will be grey.  So far the best suggestion has been to keep the blue to a minimum so that when it is used it significantly stands out.  Some ideas were to keep “Riley” and “Logistics” in grey while highlighting the word “Life” by leaving it blue.  The same goes for the slogan “Bring Life to Logistics” making only the word “Life” blue.

After our next meeting round we should have the logo finalized!  It has been an exciting process to see the transformation of the logo from meeting to meeting.  We cannot be more pleased with the responsiveness of Brandon and his team to all of our comments, concerns, and suggestions that we have had along the way.

Stick around as we unveil Riley Life’s new logo in our next post!

To find out more about Brandon and Brasco Martketing & Design visit http://www.brascomarketing.com/index.html.

By Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

After our first meeting, Brandon Ives of Brasco Design & Marketing along with his team took all of our critiques and suggestions and turned them into the next set of logo options.

A couple of highlights from the previous meeting include favoring logos that combine text and image, incorporating grey as one of the two main colors, and portraying growth, life, and movement.  Using a box as the central image of Riley Life’s logo is a must.   It is the main icon representing the company’s type of service.  Additions to be made to the box are still to be determined but include ideas like giving it wings on the sides, growing a tree from the center, or having upward pointing arrows through the middle.

Everyone agreed on a two-toned color scheme with grey being one of the two.  Red, blue, and green are all up for consideration as the accompanying color.  We also really like the idea of having the logo say Riley Life Logistics+.  The plus sign was suggested by Brandon and his team and quickly became a favorite.

Growth and movement both play significant roles in what Riley Life does as well as its plans for the future.  We chose to stick with images that show this off by using either arrows or wings.  Finding the best way to visually represent upward movement will be the key to settling on a final logo.

Check back in for more logo updates!

To find out more about Brandon and Brasco Design & Marketing visit http://www.brascomarketing.com/index.html.

By Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

Riley Life had the pleasure of spending a portion of its Leap Day with Brandon Ives of Brasco Design & Marketing.  Brandon and his team took the time to design a couple of different options for the company’s new logo.  It was exciting to see everyone on the edges of their seats waiting in anticipation for Brandon to unveil the different designs.

Brandon and his team most definitely did not disappoint.  We were presented with a number of options from a logo primarily image based, to a logo primarily text based, to a hybrid version combining the two.  I’m sure you have heard the saying “A picture is worth a thousand words,” so it was interesting to hear exactly what each designer had in mind when he or she was making the design.

Brandon sat back while we flipped through the pages, critiquing everything from the direction of a line to the curviness of a font.  It is crazy to see firsthand the level of thought that goes into creating a company’s logo.  There are so many details to be considered.  What are my competitor’s colors?  What does this logo portray to potential customers?  Does this logo constrain the direction in which the company could go?  Brandon jotted down all of this as he listened to us throw our opinions back and forth across the table.

The idea behind the new logo is to visually express Riley Life’s purpose and direction.  A few different logos were tossed around along with possible fonts, color schemes, and images.  The overall consensus was the need to incorporate the idea of growth and movement into the final product.

Brandon and his team are now going to go back and incorporate our feedback into current potential logos while continuing to work on a couple of alternative logos that we did not get to see today.  I think it is safe to say that today was productive for both sides, and we are all encouraged by the direction in which the logo is headed!

Stay tuned for more entries regarding the progression of the logo!

To find out more about Brandon and Brasco Design & Marketing visit http://www.brascomarketing.com/index.html.

March 22, 2012 by Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

With the recent explosion of technology over the past couple of years, it has become easy to fall into the trap of using the newest, latest, most up and coming technologies merely because of the hype.  When it comes to fulfillment, I couldn’t have said it better than this quote from a VendorSeek article about fulfillment tech.

“A fulfillment house should not blindly adopt every single new technology, but taking advantage of new technologies that really work is a sign of excellence in a fulfillment company.”

A successful fulfillment company is one that is able to master the art of do things the old-fashioned way while integrating new technologies to improve quality and efficiency of service.  As the article states, there are three main areas where this becomes extremely important: visibility, reporting, and online ordering.

Web-based applications make it possible for both the company and its clients to visibly track products as they make their way through the fulfillment and delivery processes.  The availability of this information allows fulfillment companies to report problems in a more dynamic manner.  Products’ tracking information can be used to “diagnose problems and improve processes all the way along the supply chain.”  And finally, embracing online ordering has proved to provide convenience for all parties considered.  Customers can order products at all hours of the day, fulfillment companies funnel orders directly into their processes, and no additional effort is required on the client’s end – less work, more revenue.

Learning how to embrace new technology is a good thing.  Learning how to decipher between a good technology and one that is all hype is even better.  All in all technology is great, when used in moderation.  Balance is key.

To read the VendorSeek article “Fulfillment Tech: Whats New, Whats Good?” in its entirety click here.

March 13, 2012 by Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

Here is a recent blog post from the renowned author, speaker, and entrepreneur – Seth Godin.  Short and sweet -

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Finishing well by Seth Godin

March 3, 2012

It’s not enough to finish the checklist, to hurriedly do the last three steps and declare victory.

In fact, the last coat of polish and the unhurried delivery of worthwhile work is valued all out of proportion to the total amount of effort you put into the project.

It doesn’t matter how many designers, supply chains, workers, materials and factories were involved–if the box is improperly sealed, that’s how you will be judged.

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This blog post is not only extremely pertinent to Riley Life’s work but is also relevant to everyday life.  Why take the time to produce something so amazing only to destroy all efforts in rushing the delivery?

Riley Life strives to add value to every product and package that passes through our warehouse.  For the most part, the way the packages leave our hands is the way they will appear once received at their final destinations.  It is crucial that we put as much or more detail into packaging the products as our clients do in making them.  By rushing the packaging we would be short-changing our clients as well as their products, and that is counter to what Riley Life is all about.

Whether packaging a product or delivering a presentation or simply baking a cake, it is most important to pay attention to the finishing touches.  Delivery is key.  It is the final moment to showcase the hours, days, or weeks of effort that have been poured into the project.  Don’t let your hard work go unnoticed!  In the words of Seth Godin, “Finish well.”

To view more of Seth’s blog posts visit http://sethgodin.typepad.com/.

February 29, 2012 by Jordan Edwards, proud Marketing Intern for Riley Life

I just want to start off by saying that if you ever get the chance to volunteer at a soup kitchen, do it! It is an awesome way to spend an hour or two of your day. Not many things beat being able to put food in people’s bellies while bringing smiles to their faces. It was my first time, but Riley Life has been serving at the Salvation Army almost once every month for the last 4 years. Yesterday, a couple of Riley Life team members had the opportunity to do so, suiting up with hairnets and all, to help serve dinner at the Salvation Army.

The Salvation Army of Wake County is located in the heart of downtown Raleigh on 215 South Person Street next to Moore Square. Every Monday through Friday from 4:30 to 6:30 volunteers serve a hot meals to the hungry. Last night’s menu consisted of a hearty portion of beef stroganoff, large scoop of salad, pear, chips, roll, and some sort of snack bar or crackers.

We put our fulfillment skills to work by figuring out the most efficient way to get food on the trays and refill empty stations without disrupting the system. They counted on us to get as many people through the line as possible, so this motivated us to move quickly. It was fun to see everyone hard at work buzzing around the kitchen.

What topped off the experience for me was seeing the appreciation of all the men and women there. Just about every person that came through the line genuinely thanked us for what we were doing. In such a short amount of time it seemed like we were making such an impact.

If you want to make an impact on the people of Wake County and the Salvation Army, there are a number of different volunteer opportunities ranging from the serving in the Soup Line, to tutoring after school, to helping sort donations at the Family Thrift Store. To access volunteer information for the Salvation Army of Wake County, visit here. To find a Salvation Army near you, go to here and enter your zip code into the Locations box in the top right corner.

BY STEPHANIE CLIFFORD – New York Times News Service

Oren Etzioni writes articles about artificial intelligence for scholarly journals, is a renowned expert on data mining and gained fame when Microsoft paid $115 million for Farecast, an airline-ticket price predictor he founded.

Now, Etzioni, who teaches computer science at the University of Washington, has directed his considerable intellect at the American ritual of shopping for bargains on Black Friday. After examining billions of prices of consumer electronics, he decided to spend the busiest shopping day of the year scuba-diving in Bali.

Why? It is not until early December, Etzioni’s research shows, that prices are likely to be the lowest for electronics, products that are among the biggest sellers on the Friday after Thanksgiving.

“The bottom line is, Black Friday is for the retailers to go from the red into the black,” he said. “It’s not really for people to get great deals on the most popular products.”

What the professor has determined with a complex computer algorithm for consumer electronics, others have found through less scientifically rigorous means for other products, including clothing and toys: Despite all the ads that suggest otherwise, the lowest prices tend to come at other times.

In the case of toys, stores actually offer the steepest discounts in the weeks immediately after Thanksgiving because they want to unload the inventory not sold on Black Friday, said Dan de Grandpre, who has tracked deals for 15 years at Dealnews.com.

“Toys have a very short shelf life,” he said. “On Dec. 26, they’re not really useful to retailers anymore, so they have to get rid of it and start slashing prices early in December.”

And it is a precise window of opportunity.

In the week or so before Christmas, toy prices shoot back up, de Grandpre’s tracking shows, as last-minute shoppers come stampeding for Barbies and Lego sets and stores are less desperate “because they’ve been able to reduce their inventory.”

The added value Etzioni brings to price discussions is the computer crunching of the trove of data provided by online prices – and specific recommendations about when to make a purchase.

Following the approach of Farecast, now part of Microsoft’s Bing search engine, the professor’s startup company, Decide.com, studies current and historical prices, information about new models and rumors about new product introductions to figure out the best time to buy.

Type in the name of a product – a Soundcast SurroundCast speaker system, for instance – and Decide.com will pull prices from around the Web, and tell you to buy or wait. In the SurroundCast case, it showed this week that prices were at $150 in early September, and had now gone up to $160.

The verdict: wait. Decide.com said it was 96 percent confident that prices for the speaker system would drop within two weeks.

Retailers do discount smaller appliances on the Friday after Thanksgiving. “You’ll see small kitchen electronics under $20, sometimes under $10 – blenders, toasters,” Etzioni said. “But it’s low-end, cheap Chinese knockoffs that are heavily discounted – often there’s a mail-in rebate hassle that goes with it – but it’s a very, very low price.”

That is true of most of the biggest deals on that Friday, he said. Because retailers want to impress shoppers with very low prices, the quality of the discounted items can be low.

For higher-end electronics, de Grandpre’s trends show, shoppers should wait until the week after Thanksgiving.

“Black Friday is about cheap stuff at cheap prices, and I mean cheap in every connotation of the word,” de Grandpre said.

Manufacturers like Dell will allow their cheap laptops to be discounted via retailers on that Friday, but they will reserve markdowns through their own sites for later.

Did Decide.com agree with the laptop advice?

It did.

A low-end Dell laptop had dropped to $249 at Amazon this week, and Decide said to buy it now. But for a more feature-heavy laptop, priced at $1,528 at Sears and $1,541 at PCNation, Decide said to wait, as it expected prices to stay flat or decline by up to $339 within two weeks.

By Associated Press
On the eve of “Cyber Monday,” online retailers reported an even stronger start to the holiday shopping season than brick-and-mortar stores.

Research firm comScore reported on Sunday that e-commerce spending jumped 26 percent on Black Friday, the day after Thanksgiving, compared with the same day a year ago. ComScore reported $816 million in online sales for the day, up from $648 million.

The 26 percent growth rate for online sales compares with a 7 percent retail sales increase reported for Black Friday by ShopperTrak, which gathers data from individual stores and shopping malls. At $11.4 billion, the brick-and-mortar sales total still dwarfs the online total.

Gian Fulgoni, comScore chairman, said in a statement that e-commerce enjoyed a banner day, despite some analysts’ predictions that early store openings on Black Friday could hurt online sales.

“With brick-and-mortar retail also reporting strong gains on Black Friday, it’s clear that the heavy promotional activity had a positive impact on both channels,” Fulgoni said.

Thanksgiving is also a big day for online sales, and comScore reported an 18 percent increase this year compared with a year ago, with $479 million in sales.

Online sales also have been strong throughout November. Online sales through Saturday rose 15 percent compared with the same period a year ago, according to comScore, which is based on Reston, Va. Through the first 25 days of the month, online sales have totaled $12.74 billion.

ComScore said 50 million Americans visited online retail sites on Black Friday, up 35 percent from a year ago. Each of the top five retail sites reported double-digit gains in visitors, in percentage terms, led by top retail site Amazon. Walmart ranked second, followed by Best Buy, Target and Apple.

Next up is Cyber Monday, when many online retailers run promotions for the first business day of the week following Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday sales topped $1 billion last year, making it the heaviest day of online spending ever. ComScore’s Fulgoni expects another record will be set this year.

Toys R Us got a jump on things by offering Cyber Monday deals beginning at 6 p.m. on Sunday. The retailer’s website also offered free shipping on purchases of $49 or more, through the holiday weekend until Dec. 3.

Amazon and Walmart launched weeklong online sales promotions on Sunday. Amazon’s offers included a discounted price of $259 on a Kindle DX e-reader that normally sells at $379. That offer was scheduled to end Monday. Walmart expanded its Cyber Week offerings with more than 250 online-only specials, with savings of up to 40 percent. Walmart also offered free shipping on orders of $45 or more.

ComScore reported online sales for Black Friday two days after another researcher, IBM Corp.’s Coremetrics unit, reported a smaller online spending gain for Black Friday. Coremetrics reported a 20 percent increase, compared with comScore’s 26 percent.

CED (Council for Entrepreneurial Development) named the winners of 2011 North Carolina Companies To Watch Award. Riley Life Logistics was selected as one of 25 winners.

Riley Life Logistics will be honored at an awards ceremony September 21st in Bay 7 at the American Tobacco Campus in Durham.

The North Carolina Companies to Watch were selected from an initial pool of more than 200 nominees from across North Carolina. They are privately held companies of between 6-99 employees and $750,000 to $50 million in annual revenue or funds raised from grants, investors or partnerships. The winners represent the geographic regions of the state as well as different sectors of the economy.

“These companies exemplify the entrepreneurial spirit that leads to success in the marketplace even during challenging economic times,” said CED President Joan Siefert Rose. She noted that these companies collectively grew revenue by an annual rate of 32 percent between 2007-2010, and added jobs at an annual rate of 36 per cent during the same period. “CED is proud to recognize the accomplishments of all our 25 winners and their significant contributions to our state’s economy,” Rose said.

“Our research confirms that second-stage companies are the champions of sustainable job creation,” says Penny Lewandowski, director of entrepreneur development at the Edward Lowe Foundation. “They are continuously adding employees, creating five, 10 or 15 jobs each year. When you look at the cumulative effect of this type of job creation, it is significant, making these companies powerhouses when it comes to economic growth. And, in addition to keeping people employed, second-stagers are setting trends in innovation and discovery. Recognizing and serving them is a key economic development strategy,” Lewandowski said.

Full CED press release is here.

Congratulations to all winners!