An Optimized, Frictionless Commerce Platform Solves Five Supply Chain Challenges

Before the COVID-19 pandemic struck, businesses around the world took the supply chain status quo for granted. Customers — consumers in particular — followed suit, simply assuming their purchases would arrive in a matter of a few days, on time, in full.

 

Everyone expected offshore factories to run as planned, transportation to be available and plentiful, demand and buying behaviors to grow and change incrementally, and expected warehouse space, port capacity and other supply chain staples to work predictably. In the last three years, the pandemic – which caused a massive consumer shift to e-commerce and other global events – blew up those assumptions.

 

“Frictionless supply chain” applications have evolved to meet the issue head on. What are the toughest challenges now disrupting supply chains, and how can frictionless applications solve them?

 

Global supply chain disruptions, failures and instabilities, caused in large part by a consumer shift to e-commerce, have wreaked supply chain chaos, and this chaos has contributed to global inflation. Supply chain technology must be upgraded to handle the challenges of the new normal.

 

Upgrading supply chain IT is costly for companies already experiencing “technical debt.” But choosing not to upgrade or keep pace with innovation will inevitably impact competitiveness, customer experience, profitability and more.

 

Frictionless commerce technologies are helping to ensure that customers can find, buy, and get the products they want, when and how they want them. “Composable” supply chain architecture uses modular components that can be tailored to specific business needs. It is both quick to implement and cost effective.

 

The goal of frictionless technologies is to provide execution capability, visibility and analytics that extend across the entire supply chain, which will ultimately supply a better, more stable buying experience for the customer.