Inbound Logistics | January 2024

WHAT’S THE WORD

The Language of Logistics

PREDICTIVE ETA > TRACKING UPDATES You can spend a lot of money and devote a lot of sta time to checking on tracking updates without necessarily improving on-time delivery. The most significant element of real-time visibility is the predictive ETA (estimated time of arrival). While knowing where your freight is at every point during transit is great, knowing whether the truck will arrive during the scheduled appointment window is what shippers and receivers plan for. For retailers, the predictive ETA aects stang and throughput at their warehouses, at their distribution and fulfillment centers, and at their stores. –Noah Homan, Head of Retail Logistics, C.H. Robinson

IN OUT Preparing for growth Mitigating disruptions Responsible business ESG Embracing uncertainty Defining the new normal Slowcession Recession Demand driven Demand responsive Fraud detection Easy returns

Find out what Digit does for Amazon on page 180.

Humanoids

We’ll talk a lot about humanoid or human-form robots, but wide deployment in warehouses will remain elusive. In 2024, expect some splashy pilot projects and updates on Agility Robotics’ Digit (pictured) at work for Amazon.

2024 ECOMMERCE WORD TO WATCH

Rom-commerce

Walmart arranged a meet-cute between romantic comedy and social commerce with its holiday series “Add to Heart” in December 2023. Viewers can buy more than 330 items—from clothes and decor to luggage and food—while watching the 23 short episodes on TikTok, Roku, or YouTube. Walmart’s shoppable commercial series aims to change American consumers’ lukewarm reception toward shoppable content, which is popular in China. In any case, social commerce—selling products directly on social media platforms—is one trend that’s gaining steam. Social commerce is anticipated to hit nearly $80 billion by 2025, or about 5% of all ecommerce purchases, according to research by McKinsey.

Antifragile Supply Chain An antifragile supply chain starts with the chief supply chain o cer’s mindset. Rather than trying to keep uncertainty out of the supply chain, antifragile supply chains embrace uncertainty with the objective of learning, evolving, and adapting their capabilities based on their improved knowledge of it. –Tim Payne, Vice President Analyst, Gartner Supply Chain

Mindsets Behind the Three Coping-With-Uncertainty States Fragile Resilient

Antifragile

A scene from rom-commerce series “Add to Heart.”

Uncertainty

Hates A cost

Tolerates

Loves

Flexibility Tactics

An insurance Prioritization

An investment

Future

Precision

Probability

Decisions

Plan-driven

Scenario-driven

Experiment-driven

Data

Batch

Real-time

Enough

ROI

Payback period

Net present value

Option-based

Structure

Ecient

Responsive

Modular

Technology

Homogeneous

Heterogeneous

Composable

Source: Gartner

20 Inbound Logistics • January 2024

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