Canada’s Valsoft Acquires Edelweiss, Expanding Role in Publishing

Fourth Quarter 2023 Highlights *Delivered sales of $4.0 billion, up 5.1%, or 5.5% on a daily, organic constant currency basis *Achieved reported operating margin of 13.9%, down 40 basis points, or 14.6% on an adjusted basis, up 80 basis points *Announced plans to open a new 1.2 million square-foot distribution center near Houston, Texas in 2026. Full Year 2023 Highlights *Grew sales to $16.5 billion, up 8.2%, or 9.5% on a daily, organic constant currency basis *Realized reported operating margin of 15.6%, up 110 basis points, or 15.7% on an adjusted basis, up 130 basis points

Every year, the U.S. goes through enough cardboard boxes for shipping to pave a one-mile-wide road from New York City to Los Angeles three times, or build a mile-high cardboard wall around the entire continental U.S. Getting rid of overreliance on Amazon.com's signature brown box is a key goal of the retail giant and its consumer partners, reports CNBC. In 2022, 11 percent of Amazon orders worldwide were sent in original manufacturer packaging. The company has yet to release its 2023 figure for the initiative designed to get rid of Amazon’s signature brown box, called the Ships in Product Packaging program. Total Retail's Take: The abundance of packaging needed to keep up with consumers' e-commerce purchases only continues to grow; however, more retailers and brands are now working to address the issue. Amazon initially launched the Ships in Product Packaging program in 2023 for vendors, and in February 2024 opened it to sellers. It identifies products that might work, contacts vendors and then, to ensure that packages won’t be damaged during delivery, Amazon works with those companies to test product packaging. Some companies that sell on Amazon say they will no longer develop new products that can’t be shipped without additional Amazon boxing.

The Washington Post plans to add 14 new positions to the graphics and design teams. “We live in an increasingly visual society, and communicating information with the powerful visual tools we now have is proving to be particularly effective – in explaining complex subjects, encouraging readers to explore subjects more deeply and attracting more readers and subscribers,” Marty Baron, executive editor of The Washington Post, told Publishers Daily. Six of the seven most visited stories in WaPo's history have been graphics, including the coronavirus simulator that became the most visited article in the publisher's history.