Emerging trends set to disrupt the logistics industry

In today’s globalized world, logistics has easily become the backbone of every economy, despite the global pandemic. Today, logistics is still the fastest evolving industry in India, boasting a US$317.3 billion market size value in 2024, Statista reports. This value is also expected to grow to US$484 billion by 2029.

Evidently, the logistics industry has overcome the worst phases of the global pandemic and will keep moving forward. Nonetheless, the pandemic laid bare the vulnerabilities within global supply chains and highlighted the need to prioritize supply chain resilience. Meanwhile, the continuous rapid advancement of technology has led to the emergence of new business models and concepts. Combined, these have influenced how industry leaders manage businesses and shape the market.

To secure an advantage in an ever-changing industry, businesses and leaders should stay abreast of the latest, major industry trends and tap into them to gain business efficiency along the supply chain. Read on to learn more about the five emerging trends that are set to disrupt the logistics industry today.

1. Autonomous vehicles

Businesses in the present day are operating in an environment where supply chain shocks have become frequent. In this new landscape, more reliable, scalable, and flexible solutions are critical to maintaining operational continuity, and technologies like autonomous vehicles offer one such solution.

The logistics industry is no stranger to autonomous vehicles, which have existed in many business operations and markets for years. These vehicles, be they autonomous trucks, vans, or cars, are appropriately designed, run, and tested. In other words, they can provide your business with safer, cheaper, and easier alternatives to manually driven vehicles.

With robotic features, these autonomous vehicles can also be customized or altered to suit your business operations. For instance, different routes for varying vehicles can be set up to transport products into their respective warehouses and help with sorting during the fulfillment process.

Unlike humans who need rest, these vehicles can also work beyond typical offices. In the long run, this reduces the need and costs for manpower as the machines can work longer hours, require fewer breaks, and are not prone to errors. This creates an opportunity to increase your business’ productivity to fuel efficiency and significantly meet customer demands through shorter delivery times.

By weaving autonomous vehicles into your business operations, such as transportation and delivery systems, you can learn to run your business under “supervised autonomy” and ensure that your logistics remain seamless and efficient.

2. Artificial intelligence (AI) automation and machine learning

In a world fueled by technologies, you should leverage new developments like big data analytics and AI. They are powerful tools that utilize machine learning algorithms to help your business discover trends, monitor markets, examine data and produce insights so you can better anticipate issues, optimize operations, and adapt quickly to problems.

For instance, by studying historical data and patterns, predictive analytics helps your business anticipate future demand. In addition, predictive analytics can also derive the best and quickest routes for your deliveries by using real-time data such as traffic and weather conditions to minimize your overall shipping cost and increase business efficiency.

When it comes to data, the margin of error significantly narrows with technology. As such, collating and analyzing large quantities of data by humans using such tools can help reduce mistakes in your logistics operations. With AI able to study and monitor data 24 hours round the clock, you can trust that you’ll always obtain the most accurate and updated information.

By correctly weaving big data analytics and AI into your business and tailoring the machines to monitor the factors crucial to the success of your business, you can gain insights that inform your strategies and give you an edge over peers in the industry. Be it delivery speed, customer satisfaction or productivity, let the machines do the tedious work for you. At the same time, you focus on other operations that require the human touch, such as customer service or networking with clients and suppliers.

3. Rise in e-commerce

Despite the world settling back into the norm, the recent pandemic has undoubtedly fueled the trend of online shopping and paved the way for e-commerce. With a new way of shopping, there has been a significant change in consumer habits whereby more customers are demanding customized delivery options such as standard delivery, express delivery, overnight shipping, rush or urgent deliveries, specialized parcel services, or even big items delivery services. Across all these, they also expect reliable package safety insurance, return options, and even real-time tracking updates.

To meet the evolving customer demands and develop a customer-centric business model, there is a dire need for businesses in India to innovate endlessly and add value to the supply chain. At the same time, businesses must distinguish themselves from competitors while keeping current customers and attracting new customers altogether.

Your business must implement the right strategies with the variety of needs and wants. One of these is to work hand in hand with a reliable international logistics company that helps you go cross-border to manage your delivery expectations and satisfy increased volumes of shipments.

4. Supply chain resilience

The pandemic has given businesses a glimpse into the impact of longer lead times and increased supply chain disruptions. As a result, many companies are rethinking their inventory management strategies, and a new industry trend is to turn to logistics platforms for support.

Also known as cloud-based systems, logistics platforms help businesses integrate logistics technologies to streamline their processes, store and transfer information faster and more securely, and even enable better control of financial resources. Besides these advantages, logistics platforms also provide businesses with data-driven insights as they track and monitor the movement of goods and materials.

However, if you do not wish to invest heavily in logistics technologies alone, you can opt for logistics software-as-a-service (SaaS) platforms as an alternative. They help to outsource certain functions in your logistics processes while meeting your needs, such as identifying bottlenecks in your current operations or mapping crucial customer touchpoints for different markets, all at the same time.

Thus, it is still crucial for your business to consider implementing a logistics platform to assist with supply chain optimization and operations efficiency.

5. Circular supply chain

With increasing awareness of climate change and its adverse effects, many businesses in India are embracing adopting a circular supply chain to minimize greenhouse gas emissions and abide by ESG measures and regulations.

But beyond helping companies to meet ESG objectives, applying circular economy principles within supply chains also boosts the resilience of logistics operations as it reduces reliance on scarce resources and suppliers to create more adaptable supply chains. For this reason, many businesses now recognize the need to prioritize logistics solutions that allow them to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions and are implementing them in their current supply chains as part of their long-term supply chain management plan.

By adopting circular supply chain solutions, your business can also do its part in reducing the environmental impact of your business activities on our planet. For instance, you can reduce your business's carbon footprint by opting for electric cars and recyclable packing materials. You can reduce waste, energy consumption, and shipment emissions in your supply chain.

You can also consider implementing circular economy principles in different phases of your product’s lifecycle. For instance, you can reduce waste during the extraction of raw materials. You can also minimize the disposal of materials when your products reach your customers after distribution and delivery by opting for recyclable product packaging.

By seeking to be more responsible and adopting circular supply chain solutions, your business can significantly benefit as you save on expenses, reduce environmental impact and enhance ESG performance.

6. Blockchain technology

While companies have historically sought to simplify supply chain networks, the increasing frequency of supply chain disruptions now makes maintaining multiple supply sources a strategic necessity.

Emerging technologies like blockchain are key in boosting supply chain resilience by providing secure, tamper-proof transaction records that improve transparency and traceability, empowering firms to manage complex supplier relationships, including those in remote areas.

When integrated with AI and IoT, blockchain also helps managers gain real-time insights into demand changes, new trends, and potential disruptions so companies can address bottlenecks quickly and make better planning and inventory decisions.

7. Cybersecurity concerns

As digitalization and globalization foster more profound interconnectivity between businesses, cybersecurity risks are becoming a growing threat, as a breach in any organization can now quickly affect others in the logistics and supply chain network. As a result, companies are increasingly recognizing the critical need to implement robust supply chain risk management programs.

This typically involves reviewing contractual clauses to ensure they align with the current risk landscape and technological advancements.

Companies also anticipate future threats and trends and support third-party suppliers in remediating risks. In doing so, they can maintain continuous oversight of their external attack surface and respond swiftly as new vulnerabilities emerge.

How can DHL Express help your business?

Supply chains have become one of the most significant risks organizations face today. To thrive in the modern landscape, establishing the appropriate structures and partnerships to create a proactive strategy for risk management becomes imperative.

As a leading logistics courier, DHL Express connects people from 220 countries worldwide. It helps businesses streamline their processes and enhance visibility and efficiency in their logistics operations through varying solutions and services. We continuously invest in multiple technological interfaces to benefit our customers in India. These solutions include but are not limited to:

• MyDHL+: A simplified, intuitive, and efficient online shipping and delivery tracking platform for customers that can be tailored to suit their preferences.
• ESS (Electronic Shipping Solutions): Supports GST and E-waybill-related mandatory data elements to bring more convenience to customers.
• ‘Clear-in-air’: This helps clear shipments while they are moving, reducing customer transit time.

When you partner with DHL Express, you will get the world’s best international express shipping service, but you can also count on our team of certified international specialists to be your trusted advisors. They will help you discover new markets, identify new opportunities and fully realize your cross-border potential.

While customer centricity is our primary objective, we remain highly conscious of our carbon footprint and leverage the power of technology to offer customers optional services to offset Scope 3 emissions. Our logistics movement, the DHL Express GoGreen Solutions, also aims to decrease emissions and provides you with solutions to reduce environmental impact along your supply chain. Open a DHL Express business account to stay ahead in today's logistics industry.