This is a crossover episode with the JLL Chicago Industrial Realtime podcast.  Listen to part 2 of this conversation: http://chicagoblog.jll.com/2017/08/24/hidden-world-retail-shipping-delivery/ 

 

James joins Aaron Ahlburn, George Cutro and Chad Buch to learn more about how retailers use warehouses both in the Midwest and across the nation.  

 

Chicago is one of the nation's largest industrial markets. The city is within a one-day drive of 26% of the U.S. population. Many major retailers have millions of square feet of industrial space there.  In addition, third party logistics companies (3PL's) handle outsourced logistics for many more retailers. 

 

Expensive and seasonal goods fly into the city at O'Hare airport.  Intermodal, the transportation of goods along multiple modes of transportations through the use of shipping containers, has started to move out of the city to places like Joliet to avoid the congestion of the city proper.   

 

Ecommerce warehouses, as opposed to traditional ones, require higher ceilings, more AC, more power, more car parking - all the more to handle the many workers required to pick and pack the high volume of online orders.

 

Got a retail question?  Tweet at: @JamesDCook  

 

Read more retail research here.

 

James Cook is the director of retail research in the Americas for JLL.

 

Theme music is Little Lily Swing by Tri-Tachyon under Creative Commons 4.0 license.