Logistics Trend Radar 2014 - Delivering insight today. Creating value tomorrow!

The Logistics Trend Radar 2014 is the series´ second edition, with extended and new content in a refreshed design. After a successful Trend Research year, it was time to review trend developments and summarize the new findings in an attractive report.

The new Logistics Trend Radar follows the established format, identifying trends and emerging technologies and putting them into perspective in terms of disruptive potential and impact on a scale from short to long term. Suggestions on how to tackle the trend and on the benefits for corporations complete the picture.

The Logistics Trend Radar report serves as a panoramic 360 view across the whole breadth of the logistics landscape. Based on this overview the DHL Trend Research team will further explore selected trends in a deep dive format, based on research in cooperation with customers, partners, research institutes and industry experts. Next to a deep dive trend report, the findings form the basis of the hands-on experience in DHL’s Innovation Center in Troisdorf, Germany and find their way into prototype and pilot innovations.

The new 2014 edition report sketches a future landscape for logistics professionals and challenges they will face, but also outlines solutions that are in development, e.g. for multi-channel retailing or predictive purchasing.

“By combining the global, cross-industry expertise of DHL and its customers with input from academia and other partners, we have created what I believe is the ideal starting point for any logistics professional who wants to prepare his business for future challenges.” says Markus Kückelhaus, Director Trend Research at DHL Customer Solutions & Innovation.

New trends the report highlights include:

• Omni-Channel Logistics: The integration of different offline and online shopping channels making use of interactive eTags with personalized content and integrating social media and mobile devices
• Anticipatory logistics: The big data analysis of customer product searches, shopping histories, wish-lists and even cursor movements in order to send a shipment even before the customer places an order
• Crypto Payment: Universal payment systems that allow global cross-currency payments to clear in seconds, support any unit of value (frequent flyer miles, mobile minutes etc.) and make room for new pricing models e.g. via micropayments