Business leaders and consumers alike have observed the ubiquity of e-commerce brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic. At this juncture, that is not news. Well, how about this: According to IBM's U.S. Retail Index, the coronavirus accelerated the shilt toward online shopping-and away from brick-and-mortar-by about five years. This news may be good for a company's top line; however, many supply chain leaders are struggling to cope with the tremendous pressure this surge has put on their internal operations, customer sen ice, and delivery partners. Both manufacturers and retailers, faced with e-commerce volumes that no one anticipated until 2025, are trying to meet this outsized demand with networks that were not prepared to handle this much volume this soon for such an extended period.
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