{"id":1959,"date":"2021-03-29T16:45:00","date_gmt":"2021-03-29T16:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/retail-supply-chain\/"},"modified":"2025-10-08T20:45:29","modified_gmt":"2025-10-08T20:45:29","slug":"retail-supply-chain","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.shipbob.com\/au\/blog\/retail-supply-chain\/","title":{"rendered":"The Retail Supply Chain in 2026 & How to Adapt Your Business to Survive"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Table of Contents<\/p>

** Minutes<\/p><\/div><\/div>\n

What is the retail supply chain?<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the retail supply chain<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

How to improve retail supply chain management<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

ShipBob retail supply chain partnership success stories<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Improve your retail supply chain with ShipBob<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retail supply chain FAQs<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Ordering inventory from suppliers.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Storing and managing inventory. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Picking, packing, and shipping orders. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The tasks above only name a few parts of the retail supply chain. With everything that goes into managing logistics, it\u2019s enough to make you think: will I ever have time to grow my online business?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s true \u2014 managing a retail supply chain is a time-consuming process, and it\u2019s only becoming more complicated as the ecommerce industry grows. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the United States alone, the ecommerce industry grew by <\/span>44%<\/span><\/a> in 2020. Online retail was already growing rapidly, but the pandemic expedited its growth and caused a major shift in buying behaviour, changing the future of ecommerce \u2014 especially when it comes to logistics. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of fast industry growth and changes in customer demand (and expectations), managing an effective retail supply chain has become harder for many online brands that don\u2019t have the infrastructure, technology, and bandwidth<\/a> to keep up with competitors and marketplaces. In fact, just renting warehouse space has become 10%<\/a> more expensive than in the past. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

But thankfully, there are several ways to optimise your supply chain while saving time and money so you can focus on growing your business.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this article, we will cover what a retail supply chain entails, how the traditional supply chain model has changed post-COVID, and why today\u2019s fast-growing online brands choose to outsource parts of their retail supply chain to <\/span>logistics service providers<\/span><\/a> like ShipBob. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

What is the retail supply chain?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The retail supply chain consists of <\/span>in<\/span><\/a>bound and outbound logistics<\/a> processes that result in the flow of finished goods<\/a> from a supplier to the end consumer. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several moving parts that make up the entire supply chain, including supplier relationships<\/a>, retail warehousing<\/a>, inventory management, picking and packing orders, shipping and courier partnerships, managing returns, and more. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the retail supply chain<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The COVID-19 pandemic<\/a> has quickly changed how retailers operate their business, which means that the traditional retail supply chain isn\u2019t going to cut it. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There is a lot more that goes into a creating an efficient and lean supply chain<\/a>, including the integration of automation and technology, as well the need to adopt an inventory distribution model to expand customer reach and meet their expectations with fast, affordable shipping options. Even free shipping<\/a> is becoming more common, but is not doable with an inefficient supply chain. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thinking beyond the pandemic and looking toward the future of ecommerce, here are just some of the ways that retailers can continue to improve their retail supply chain:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Adapt to changes in consumer demand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Consumer purchasing habits shifted drastically in 2020 as more and more buyers shopped online. While we can expect this effect to lessen slightly as COVID-19 restrictions are lifting and vaccinations are distributed, retailers should be prepared for some of the new buying habits to stick.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Demand forecasting<\/span><\/a> is a business strategy that should always be a priority, as it is the ability to predict, analyse, and understand future customer demand for a product. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Without demand, there is no ecommerce business. And without a thorough understanding of demand, businesses aren\u2019t capable of making the right decisions about marketing spend, production, staffing, warehousing, and more.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

\u201cWe were already growing quickly when COVID began, then we completely sold out the first week of the pandemic. In three weeks, more than 34,000 customers were waitlisted on Touchland.com. We even did pre-orders to try and meet demand. <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Between March and May 2020, we had up to 700 orders per day and sold 10,000 dispensers to industry-leading brands in those three months.\u201d<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrea Lisbona, Founder & CEO of <\/span>Touchland<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Focus on fast, convenient, and reliable fulfilment<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Even a pandemic couldn\u2019t dampen customers\u2019 expectations around <\/span>2-day shipping<\/span><\/a>, andretail fulfilment<\/a> is one of the most important components of an online retailer\u2019s supply chain. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Strategic ecommerce businesses focus a lot of time on finding ways to improve the fulfilment <\/span>process that will result in higher order accuracy<\/a> rates and faster shipping \u2014 whether it\u2019s transforming brick-and-mortar retail space<\/a> into <\/span>dark stores<\/span><\/a> to handle fulfilment, splitting inventory across warehouses, or implementing <\/span>fulfilment software<\/span><\/a> to speed up the picking and packing process. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Track inventory to forecast demand<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

As monthly order volume increases, you will need a system in place to <\/span>track inventory<\/span><\/a> in real time to meet customer demand and expectations around fast shipping.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are several benefits to inventory forecasting<\/a>, including the ability to:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n