2021 State of Supply Chain Execution Report

2021 State of Supply Chain Execution Report

After a year of uncertainty and constant adjustments, the second half of 2020 and the first half of 2021 turned out to be a year of opportunity, especially for companies with nimble and adaptive supply chains.

Globally, companies want to know:

• Will the impressive growth in e-commerce brought on by the pandemic continue?
• What are the biggest supply chain execution/logistics challenges facing shippers
• (manufacturers and retailers) and logistics service providers (LSPs)?
• Will direct-to-consumer gain even more ground?
• Which technologies are getting attention and investments?

This year, we surveyed partners across the supply chain – retailers, manufacturers, LSPs, technology solutions providers, start-ups, and media associations – in order to gain a better understanding and perspective of the concerns, challenges, and actions. “Change is constant” was true for supply chain execution before the COVID-19 pandemic and much more so during.

The survey of 589 supply chain professionals found that the COVID-19 pandemic, customer centricity, rising e-commerce complexity, and costs, the need for Direct-to-Consumer, and the risk of financial peril are propelling retailers, manufacturers, and logistics service providers to digitally transform.