Evolution of E-commerce: The possibilities of tomorrow

The rapid growth of e-commerce is driving deep changes in logistics, from tightening up trucking capacity to elevating the importance of final-mile delivery processes. To respond, logistics managers now need to think in terms of systems that they can leverage today to make processes more efficient, while also keeping an eye on longer-term developments that will reshape tomorrow's possibilities. To gain a sharper picture of what e-commerce-related technologies logistics professionals should be watching, we reached out to consultants and analysts to develop a short-list of trends and solutions that need to be top of mind for today's savvy logistics professional. Several of thee include solutions currently in use, such as predictive analytics, supply chain control towers, and the continued digitization of freight forwarding; however, many, including blockchain-based traceability, driverless trucks, and even the advent of hyperloops, are all working through development, but promise to present bright new options in the future. Companies have long had dashboards to organize their metrics, but until recently, most of these approaches have been descriptive, meaning they look at past or current trends.