Coresight Research Labs

albert Chan

Retail-Tech Landscape: Supply Chain Technological advancements have continued to transform supply chain processes that have become more intricate than ever before. Not only do rapidly changing geopolitical relations contribute to this, but also the boom in e-commerce that has forced retailers to resort to innovative warehousing and delivery methods. It has become critical for companies and brands to choose the right solution for them at each stage of the supply chain, from planning to final product delivery. The rising competition among retailers and a wide range of options for overseeing each stage of the supply chain has made it essential for stakeholders to understand the offerings available and what works best for them. Broad technological advances such as the move to cloud-based services and software have also encouraged retailers to adopt these new solutions. There are also new software technologies such as machine learning that enable retailers to glean insights and make predictions from the vast amounts of data they collect, in addition to supporting other hardware and software technologies such as 3D printing, Internet of Things (IoT), robots and on-demand manufacturing. Supply-chain software can perform a wide variety of functions, generally focusing on getting goods from warehouse to customer. Other tasks include processing orders, handling distribution, warehouse management and replenishment. The software can also manage sourcing, collecting information, vetting and selecting suppliers as well as managing them. This retail-tech landscape covers innovation in the supply chain, featuring start-ups in addition to a few established companies that are disrupting the current scenario. The landscape includes companies headquartered in the US, Europe or Asia and spans 13 categories at every step of the retail value supply chain. The companies focus on solutions at every step of the retail value supply chain, broken down into the following categories: