3PL MARKET RESEARCH REPORT
Top Challenges 3PLs Face
3PLs, Should Your Customers Generally Partner with One 3PL or More than One?
66%
Rising operational costs
56%
Cost control/profitability
Just one 11%
52% 52%
Capacity
It depends 72%
Technology investment
More than one 17%
50% 50%
AI
Tariffs
47%
Compliance/regulations
46%
Freight fraud
40%
Finding, training, retaining qualified labor
38% 38%
Contingency planning/risk management
Finding/retaining customers
23%
Meeting customer service requirements
21%
finding, training, and retaining labor has been a major talking point in the industry in recent years, but this year’s survey has some positive signs as 40% of respondents call it an important challenge—down 6 points from 2025 and nearly 20 points overall since 2023. How do 3PLs and shippers contend with these and other current market challenges? Most 3PL respondents (70%) point to supply chain technology as an important part of the solution. DC network optimization (61%) also is a popular pick. On the other end of the spectrum, only 25% of respondents view supply chain decentralization as a go-to approach for today’s challenges. Surprising no one is that artificial intelligence at 93% is again the overwhelming frontrunner as the disruptive innovation poised to have the greatest impact on logistics and supply chain management, according to 3PL respondents. Automation also is a resounding pick at 63%. Autonomous vehicles, meanwhile, are not on respondents’ minds as prominently as one year ago with 36% indicating they are among the innovations likely to have the greatest impact, a decline of 10 percentage points from one year ago. Also taking a step back is blockchain, which dropped 10 points to 8% from 2025 and is now down 20 points over the past two years. For shippers, implementing AI is the most important challenge they face today with 73% of shipper respondents
Growth management
19%
Corporate social responsibility (including sustainability)
8%
Global coverage
Most Impactful Innovations on Logistics and Supply Chain Management, According to 3PLs
93%
AI
63%
Automation
40%
Robotics
36%
Autonomous vehicles
23%
Internet of Things
17%
Electric vehicles
13%
Embedded sensors
11% 11%
Drones
Wearable technology
9%
RFID
8%
Blockchain
5%
Virtual reality
Strategies Shippers and 3PLs Use to Manage Challenges
70%
Supply chain technology
61%
DC network optimization and realignment
58%
Strategic sourcing strategies
55% 55%
Nearshoring or reshoring
Supply chain design
52%
4PL/LLP partnerships
51%
Lean best practices
34%
Demand-driven logistics
33%
Co-locating, collaborative distribution
25%
Supply chain decentralization
86 Inbound Logistics • July 2026
Powered by FlippingBook