Logistics Trend Radar Echo

Echoing the voice of the customer

For more than 10 years, DHL customers, partners, and colleagues have used our Logistics Trend Radar (LTR) as the North Star to navigate the future. Now, LTR Echo augments this strategic tool by capturing the perspectives of logistics practitioners, providing a unique, data-based view into how companies are assessing and leveraging the most impactful trends from the Logistics Trend Radar.

LTR Echo is literally echoing the voices of more than 2,500 valued DHL customers with regards to the future of logistics and beyond. It also, for the first time, complements our trend research with regional and sector views on emerging topics in logistics.

Responses from more than 2,500 supply chain professionals lead to insights from a diverse pool of supply chain professionals. They span all four DHL Innovation Center regions and the six industry sectors highlighted by the Logistics Trend Radar, with strong representation across company sizes and seniority levels.

Survey Question: Which of the following trend clusters will have a significant impact on your company’s supply chain in the next five years?

Supply chain professionals were asked to select up to 2 trend clusters from the following options: AI; Bionic Enhancements; Digital Backbone; ESG; IOT; New Business Models; Packaging and Containers; Robotics; None of the Above.

• AI leads on supply chain impact: Respondents see AI reshaping core and ancillary operations, so its impact lands directly on efficiency, speed, and customer experience across networks.
• Robotics is the “do-now” automation play: It sits #2 globally and lands in the Top 3 across every sector, reflecting throughput gains, safety/ergonomics benefits, and a path to gaining a competitive advantage.
• Packaging and Containers punches above its weight in asset- and consumer-heavy sectors: It enters the Top 3 in Energy, Engineering and Manufacturing, and E-Retail and Fashion, likely because packaging upgrades are tangible, quicker to implement, and tied to waste/cost reductions.
• New Business Models remains a lower emphasis…for now: Its global share is small, implying most organizations are prioritizing core performance and resilience first, with many logistics teams expecting nearer-term impact from operational levers first and business model changes later.

Survey Question: For the chosen trend clusters, please rate the importance of the following trends for your company. 

Supply chain professionals were asked to rate trends as one of the following: Not important at all; Somewhat important; Important; Very important.

• New Business Models trends score low on impact but lead in importance: The contrast suggests leaders see these levers as commercially important now (e.g. driving revenue flexibility, platform selling, and customer experience) but expect their supply-chain impact to materialize later, after efficiency, more sustainable operations, and a stronger digital core are in place.
• Deep tech is important, but trails its perceived impact: The lower rankings of AI and Robotics cluster trends suggest that leaders recognize these trends’ transformative potential but temper near-term importance until data quality, governance, and responsible-use guardrails are in place, treating technology as a powerful future impact while today’s emphasis stays on foundations and commercial levers.
• Same playbook, different order by region: All four regions elevate Digital Marketplaces, E-Commerce Evolution, Everything as a Service, and Supply Chain Diversification, but Asia-Pacific and Europe skew platform-first, the Americas leads with resilience, and Middle-East and Africa leans commerce-first.
• Foundations behind the front end: Advanced Analytics appears in many Top-5 regional lists without taking the #1 slot, underscoring its position as the enabling backbone for the headline levers.
• Clear sector signatures: Expectedly, diversification tops asset- and network-heavy sectors (i.e. Auto-Mobility, Engineering and Manufacturing, and Technology), e-commerce leads E-Retail and Fashion, and XaaS rises in Life Sciences and Healthcare and Energy, which often operate around service contracts.
• From hype to targeted tools: Despite practical use cases like training and remote assist, Metaverses and Extended Reality rank last on importance as teams favor proven, network-wide scalable gains.

Survey Question: For which of these trends will your company most likely prioritize implementation or investments for supply chain and logistics in the next five years?

Supply chain professionals were asked to select up to 3 trends from those they previously rated as "Important" or "Very important".

• AI is a two-engine priority: Advanced Analytics and Gen AI are effectively tied at the top, emphasizing a practical path of scaling proven analytics while moving generative AI from pilots into everyday tasks, while Mass Personalization follows as the customer-facing payoff.
• Smart packaging is the cross-cluster quick win: Next-Generation Packaging and Smart Printables lead in both Packaging and Containers and IoT, possibly representing near-term bets on traceable, data-rich shipments that improve cost, compliance, sustainability, and customer experience without heavy system changes.
• ESG funding targets tangible levers: Decarbonization and Vehicle Electrification top the list, with ESG Advocacy close behind, all of which hints at priorities that strongly cut emissions and align stakeholders while strengthening reporting credibility.
• People-centric moves rise in Bionics: Exoskeletons and Silver Economy top the list, with Metaverses close behind, pointing to ergonomic gains, talent retention, and modern training/remote-assist as practical site-level investments.

Survey Question: What are the top reasons for focusing on these trends?

Supply chain professionals were asked to select up to 2 reasons from the following options for each prioritized trend: Competitive advantage; Improving operational efficiency; Innovation opportunity; Increasing employer attractiveness; Meeting market demands; Supporting sustainability goals.

• Focus is earned by the business case: Across trend clusters, selections center on “meeting market demands,” “competitive advantage,” and “improving operational efficiency,” showing that trend bets are anchored in clear commercial outcomes rather than peripheral benefits.
• Distinct “reason signatures” by cluster: IoT is market-led (e.g. customer and channel pull), Robotics is efficiency-led (e.g. throughput, ergonomics), and Packaging and Containers, as well as New Business Models, are differentiation-led.
• Ancillary motives show up where people and purpose matter: “Employer attractiveness” features more in Bionic Enhancements and ESG, while “innovation opportunity” stays as a steady, strong secondary motive for AI and New Business Models, indicating where firms are exploring future upside alongside core business cases.
• Customer demands lifts packaging and “smart” IoT picks: Next-Generation Packaging and Smart Printables are driven mainly by “meeting market demands” and “competitive advantage,” hinting that logistics teams in some sectors favor upgrades that are visible to customers and quick to deploy on-site.
• People-first motives raise Silver Economy and Exoskeletons: Across Auto-Mobility, Engineering and Manufacturing, and E-Retail and Fashion, these trends pair employer attractiveness with efficiency and meeting demand, a signal that aging workforces, ergonomics, and service needs are shaping near-term priorities.

Survey Question: What challenges does your company face in responding to these trends?

Supply chain professionals were asked to select up to 3 challenges from the following options for each prioritized trend: Budget or costs; Complexity of integration; Insufficient collaboration with partners; IT security; Lack of data or insights; Lack of knowledge or expertise; Lack of solution availability; Limited resources; Regulatory constraints; Resistance to change within the company; Risk-averse company culture; No challenge; Other.

• Costs and capacity set the pace: Even when interest is high, most trend clusters often cite costs and limited resources as the main brakes, reflecting how multi-site rollouts, data/compute needs, and cross-functional changes require clear ROI and staged scaling.
• Fitting old and new together is hard: AI, ESG, New Business Models, and Robotics flag the challenge of connecting new solutions to existing systems and everyday processes, suggesting that respondents favor technologies that plug in with minimal disruption.
• Basics before breakthroughs: Bionic Enhancements, Digital Backbone, and Packaging and Containers seem to mainly struggle with skills and getting the right data in place, and regulatory constraints, so until those foundations are in place, efforts are likely to stay in exploring and small pilot phases rather than full scale.

Survey Question: What level of adoption do you anticipate your company will achieve for the following trends over the next five years?

Supply chain professionals were asked to rate trends as one of the following: Not adopted; Exploring; Partially adopted; Mostly adopted; Fully adopted; Don’t know.

• AI and New Business Models break out: Both shift greater adoption levels, suggesting that firms are seeing clearer paths to monetization and operational leverage once data, skills, and governance mature.
• IoT and Bionics move, but more cautiously: Net gains are smaller than for AI or New Business Models as value is recognized, but scale depends on enabling prerequisites like brownfield connectivity/interoperability and ergonomic/safety validation cycles.
• AI moves from tests to daily use: Most sectors expect far fewer pilots and far more adoption in five years, with Auto-Mobility, E-Retail and Fashion, and Technology being the fastest.
• ESG climbs unevenly by sector: Engineering and Manufacturing and Life Sciences and Healthcare advance fastest toward full adoption under tighter standards, while Energy and E-Retail and Fashion progress more steadily.

• Klaus Dohrmann, Vice President, Head of Innovation and Trend Research, Project Director and Co-Author 
• Emily Pitcher, Senior Manager Innovation, Global Portfolio Lead, Editor-In-Chief and Co-Author 
• Jordan Toy, Innovation Manager, Innovation Ecosystem, Analytics Lead and Co-Author 
• Susanne Lauer,  Marketing Director Innovation and Content, Marketing Strategy Lead 
• Philip Jensen, Marketing Innovation Manager, Campaign Lead 
• Other Contributors: Abdulla Fayis, Amy Taylor, Konstantin Theisen, Noah Tombs, Silke Lebrenz, Simran Rohra, Stefan Fuehner 
• Special Thanks: We extend our sincere thanks to all our customers who participated in the survey. Your valuable insights and expert perspectives across diverse sectors and regions have been instrumental in shaping this publication. 
• Brand Design and Marketing Agency: THE STUDIOS excellence in brand design GmbH