Assessing the carbon emissions produced by customers’ delivery choices has become an increasingly pressing concern. Providing customers with insights into the environmental impact of their decisions related to packaging and delivery timing holds significant value, particularly considering the growing global emphasis on sustainability and shopping green. One of the primary obstacles to achieving this level of visibility to-date has been a lack of commitment to transparency within the industry and the requisite investments to comprehensively understand the carbon footprints associated with diverse supply chain approaches. Additionally, addressing issues of oversupply and waste, which has been reported to contribute $165 billion in inventory disposal per year, offers significant potential to reduce the industry’s carbon footprint. Improved visibility into future demand could further drive these initiatives.
The primary challenge holding the industry back centers around technology constraints. Data is scattered across different sources within multiple entities making it difficult to obtain. Alternatively, the available data is often of poor quality as it was not intended for automated use. Furthermore, there are privacy concerns that need to be managed within logistics given the sensitive customer data at hand, such as addresses or contact information. Technology is what will push supply chain visibility forward. The use of AI, advanced data analytics, the internet of Things (IoT) and various sensors that provide additional sources of data will all progress supply chain visibility and, more importantly, help manage customer expectations and demand.