Looking to the year ahead

The consumer market has shifted to an eComm focus much more rapidly than any analysts anticipated, due to mass stay-at-home online orders and the closing of sizeable retail outlets plus bricks and mortar shopping centres. Unfortunately, I don't see how – or truly why – a return to traditional shopping habits will occur.

However, I do think macro-economic improvements driven by vaccine introduction and the subsequent return to more ‘normal’ economic times post lockdown will improve consumer demand.

A pandemic dominated 2020 really challenged and changed the mix of demand between in person retail and online e-commerce. As economies recover, however, business leaders will increasingly turn to cloud based over on premise solutions to support the speed of that growth. Consequently, the more tech savvy elements of our supply chain industry should expect and plan for a steep increase in demand.

Investing in cost effective infrastructure and technology that can quickly adapt and change with a business is more important than ever. The face of retail and city centres has changed for good and retailers will have to become genuinely omnichannel to provide the choice, value and convenience customers increasingly expect.

Therefore, traditional stores may not disappear but evolve to become micro-fulfilment hubs in terms of click & collect and product returns, which are both vital components of the e-commerce offer.

Digital transformation is fundamental to survival going forward and as a driver of efficiency and accuracy will further streamline how e-commerce organisations operate, ultimately giving them a tangible competitive edge.

Operational complexity means they will increasingly turn to more robust and flexible software systems - such as advanced, cloud-based WMS like SnapFulfil that benefits from remote implementation and self-configuration for even greater responsiveness, control and savings.

For more information, visit www.snapfulfil.com