A Post COVID-19 World

With COVID-19 vaccines slowly coming online at the end of this year and their rollouts increasing throughout next year, there is finally light at the end of the pandemic tunnel we have experienced this year.  As our lives get back to something that looks more familiar to 2019, we ask ourselves what will the retail, logistics and supply chain industries look like in a post COVID-19 world.

One thing is for certain, over the last nine months, logistics and supply chains have effectively been catapulted into the future by many years. Shipment volumes projected for 2026 now look likely by 2023 – and it’s the same for logistics providers all over the world.

During the early stages of the pandemic, the business-to-business logistics market came almost to a standstill. Impacts were profound as supply chains were seriously disrupted and new regulations rapidly introduced. Now, as the journey to recovery begins, some companies are looking to diversify and relocate their supply chains closer to home with, for example, countries such as Mexico as alternatives to China for US companies.

Meanwhile, the business-to-consumer market has exploded as people in lockdown turned to the internet to make their purchases. And not only did volumes grow; the profile of goods being shipped changed, with more consumers ordering even the largest purchases online. In response, logistics companies fast-tracked their growth and development strategies, quickly expanding to seven days a week and making significant investments in technology, e-commerce, people and assets to cope with demand.

It's interesting, I have been a very early adopter in all things eCommerce and online shopping.  I have been purchasing things like books online since it was the only product Amazon.com sold in the late 90’s.  I have furnished multiple apartments entirely from online purchases in the last 8 years.  I have been buying groceries online for the last 2-3 years.  Needless to say, I assumed the rest us were doing the same.  I was wrong.  It has taken a global pandemic to finally push a large majority of the buying public into fully embracing all aspects of online shopping and I have a feeling a lot of those people are not going back to shopping in person, in stores.  The retail, logistics and supply chain industries will need to adjust accordingly.