Still dealing with the tail-end of the holiday rush? Take a break to reflect with us on what 2016 brought…and what the future will hold.
Predictions are tricky, of course. They take not only a knowledge of the industry and a keen sense for trends, but a dash of imagination as well. So we started our future-gazing exercise by asking our writers to invent a few humorous predictions for 2017. We thought that would open our minds to thinking through some of the things we are seeing in logistics.
Some predictions were fun, like this submission:
2017 Prediction #1: Salted Caramel, having reached its peak as a flavor for everything, will begin to decline the way Sriracha did at the end of 2015. Hibiscus will still be safe for another year, making its way into cocktails and frozen yogurt.
One writer had his fun watching the tech sector:
2017 Prediction #2: Motorola’s new smartphone, Moto Mods, will come out with enough attachments (mods) to form a miniature Voltron figure and defend small galaxies (although not those created by Samsung).
And of course, the news was on people’s minds as well:
2017 Prediction #3: Facebook makes good on its promise to crack down on fake news, then discovers that even the best AI algorithms can’t tell the difference anymore.
2017 Prediction #4: Amazon, in an ever-escalating war of technology, enters into a surprising and unprecedented agreement with Google to take the next logical step in delivery: self-driving packages.
Some Serious Industry Predictions for 2017
Naturally, the point of the above exercise was not just to be silly. It was to open our minds to what kinds of news and trends are important, and to think about how they would likely unfold. Turning that analytical eye to news in the logistics and fulfillment world, we were struck by how easy it was to make some predictions for the industry in 2017:
2017 Industry Prediction #1: eCommerce will continue its rapid growth. Growth will level off in the West, having reached a natural saturation point. But, as a whole, eCommerce will grow, due to a surge in demand from Asian markets—China in particular.
China’s economic growth, although still off its peak, is still incredibly rapid. Some publications are predicting that eCommerce sales there will double between now and 2019, adding $1 trillion worth of additional sales.
While eCommerce makes it easier to reach these foreign markets, they can be a headache when it comes to logistics and fulfillment. Retailers will have to be cautious and pay close attention to who is handling their goods. Companies wishing to break into Asia will be looking for ways to keep shipping costs low and manage local expectations.
2017 Industry Prediction #2: Subscription-based business models are the future. Our sister blog over at Copper Peak Logistics has written extensively on subscription services, and we’ve followed the trend as well. These models have become increasingly sophisticated, and as a result, consumers are eating them up (in the case of services like Blue Apron, sometimes literally). Successful models allow consumers a level of customization and curation, while providing a steady revenue stream for merchants.
We expect to see more subscription services and other DTC services arise throughout 2017, with increasing competition for consumer dollars across several niches.
2017 Industry Prediction #3: More stores will open without inventory/stock. Not too long ago, we wrote about the trend of stores opening up without inventory on hand, outside of what is displayed as samples on the showroom floor. The idea is to cut many of the costs associated with shipping and storing items to and from multiple locations and handle most orders through an online system, delivering the goods to customers’ doors. We believe more retailers will try this, especially as the line between physical retail locations and online gets blurred into one omni-channel mix.
2017 Industry Prediction #4: Fear of fraud online will rise as eChip cards roll out. More and more stores are adopting eChip card readers as a way to cut down on digital piracy—an understandable move after heavily publicized hacks of Target and Home Depot. With digital security at the storefront improving, people will naturally shift their attention to online and wonder “Are we safe there as well?”
In many ways, we are. Sure, if a payment gateway gets hacked, there will be a problem—but there are already many safeguards in place to make sure this doesn’t happen. Once payment is processed, little-to-no financial data need be transmitted. Even if purchase data are routed through the merchant to a 3PL, there is little risk of having one’s financial data compromised.
Privacy might be an issue, though, so we expect there to be more discussion of this in the coming year.
These are four trends we feel fairly confident about. Now we want to turn to our readers: What have you been seeing lately? What are your predictions for 2017?
The post Our 2017 Predictions: 4 Silly, 4 Serious appeared first on Materialogic.