E-commerce revenues jump 20% in one year
Research estimates global revenues from e-commerce sales rocketed up by 20% from 2019 to 2020, forcing innovation to cope with the load
From 2019 to 2020, worldwide e-commerce revenues rose more than 20% year on year, forcing the supply chain landscape to profoundly alter. According to ABI research, this was seen particularly in vehicle, robotic and software automation areas.
These changes are expected to continue to evolve and persist as the new digital and contactless behaviours become more intrenched for both consumers and business. Limited trials that began prior to 2020 are now attracting government exemptions, revenue-producing activity, and massive investment.
This means that longer term decisions must be made for a post-pandemic strategy that will be better positioned for the next events that may impact the global supply chain. Technology adoption is already growing rapidly across the supply chain with software and hardware to support vehicle automation, robotics, AI and Machine Learning, blockchain and computer vision systems. Asset visibility of vehicles, trailers and cargo are also increasingly required with a diverse list of providers with global asset tracking revenue expected to exceed US$20 billion by 2025.
"The pandemic laid bare existing gaps in digitization, integration, and tenuous contingency plans. Additionally, labour shortages have been magnified from volatile product demand, employee quarantines and seasonal peaks," explains Susan Beardslee, Principal Analyst, Freight Transportation & Logistics, "2021 will continue to see expanded investment and adoption of digital, automated and integrated solutions to provide much needed resiliency in the global supply chain through optimized visibility, flexibility and reliability.”