For retailers, warehouse owners, suppliers and distribution firms, 2020 has been a dizzying year, as the pandemic has triggered large changes in customer purchasing behavior that will affect supply chains for many years to come. According to emarketer.com, ecommerce sales in US will touch a new high of around $800 Billion by the end of 2020. However the sales from Brick and Mortar have significantly dropped unlike any other year.
This is entirely due to the lockdowns imposed across the world due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In order to help them respond to rapid shifts in customer behavior, supply chain operations of all sizes have been pursuing new strategies and real-time technology since early 2020, many of which will begin to intensify in 2021.
This year, for small and medium-sized businesses, their activities have been particularly challenging, requiring them to adapt faster in order to keep up with larger rivals. These developments will be a critical part of their preparation when supply chain managers begin reviewing their plans for 2021.
Lets take a detailed look at the top 5 trends for 2021 in the video given below:
Every aspect of industry, including supply chains, has been affected by COVID-19. Supply chain financing will assist companies struggling to meet their payments during this unpredictable phase.
Many companies have undergone a dramatic disruption in cash flow, still recovering from the impact of this Great Recession. When goods and materials remained idle in shipping containers or warehouses, payments became unpredictable.
Matt Lekstutis, global practice leader of supply chain at Tata Consultancy Services says “Supply chain finance can bring stability and flexibility to these supply chains by bringing the lowest cost of capital to where it is needed most in the supply chain to shift focus from survival to improving efficiency, innovation and investment in new products”.
Finance in the supply chain allows consumers and manufacturers to get more consistency in their payments. Sebastiaan Wissink, a consultant at the Dutch consultancy firm Capital Chains, said that buyers and suppliers need liquidity in the supply chain, particularly now.
What is meant by supply chain finance?
The aim of supply chain finance is to minimize costs for both the buyer and the seller. Usually, it needs a cloud-based platform that both the consumer and supplier have access to.
The video given below explains in detail on what are the four benefits of Supply Chain Finance.
Maersk is working with the US drug maker Covaxx to provide logistical support for the distribution of Covid-19 vaccines.
While several shipping companies have confirmed plans to be ready to distribute the planned vaccine, Maersk is the first shipping company to proactively prepare for what has been described as the world’s largest product launch in history.
The agreement with Covaxx sets out a structure for all transport and supply chain providers to distribute vaccines across the world.
Convoy is a digital freight network App started by Dan Lewis in 2015. Convoy reduces overall costs for shippers, providing asset-like reliability and performance. Convoy enhances efficiency by providing open access to real-time data insights that allow shippers to enhance their operations.
Convoy also maximizes income for carriers by keeping their trucks fully loaded on the roads and provides them with flexibility to run without much hassle.
Convoy has helped to eliminate 72 Million Metric Tons of Carbon Emissions. Prior to starting Convoy, Lewis used to work for Amazon, Google and Microsoft.
Convoy’s CEO and Co-founder Dan Lewis says “I’d had some really bad ideas”. “This one, every time I shared it with someone from the industry, they were excited about it and felt like it was necessary.”
Lewis used to visit shippers and truck stops in order to learn about the industry and to generate feedback on Convoy’s business plan. He remembered going to the shipper’s office for the first time, so anxious that all he could do was ask to use the toilet.
But Lewis noticed the industry needs lot of changes when he spoke with drivers and shippers about his ideas. And this is how He perfected Convoy in to becoming a great App as we see it today.
But within 4 years, Convoy is one of Washington’s top unicorns, valued at more than $1 billion. Convoy is funded by high-profile investors such as Jeff Bezos, Reid Hoffman, Bill Gates and U2’s Bono. Convoy’s competitors are C.H. Robinson, the largest freight broker in USA.
Convoy also competes with Uber Freight, a relatively new entrant in the market.
Convoy claims that its latest milestone in automated pricing will help it work more effectively and will result in lower prices for shippers and trucks for carriers. The technical breakthrough comes just one month after Convoy ‘s new $400 million funding round at a valuation of $2.7 billion.
“We’ve been working for the past four years on improving our pricing models. And as we’ve been building more and more density we have more and more data for us to train our models” said Ziad Ismail, Chief Product Officer of Convoy. “We’ve also gotten more drivers to use our app. The combination of those two things have led us to 100-percent automated pricing in Convoy’s top markets.”
By using Convoy, Truckers gain more as they have more loading options, better routes, and less “empty mile” journeys. Convoy aims to maximize capacity and minimize costs for shippers with more truckers on its platform. Automated brokering provides added advantages to both sides of the marketplace.
Convoy has become the most powerful digital freight network App, using machine learning and automation to link shippers and carriers to transfer millions of truckloads, saving shipper money, growing carrier earnings, and reducing carbon waste as well.
Convoy has become the most powerful digital freight network App, using machine learning and automation to link shippers and carriers to transfer millions of truckloads, saving shipper money, growing carrier earnings, and reducing carbon waste as well.
