SAP: Retailers still lag in leading-edge supply chain technology

New data indicates most retailers have not yet implemented solutions and processes to maximize their usage of supply chain data.

According to a recent survey of global retail executives from SAP and Oxford Economics, only 29% of respondents are effectively sharing supply-chain data with business partners, which could include manufacturers and wholesalers. Seventy-five percent of respondents say they are effective in both collecting supply chain data and acting on the insights, but only 39% have retrained employees to work with data, while 30% have adopted organization-wide data governance policies.

Just over half of surveyed retail executives cite a digital supply chain as a top-three priority for their success, but many have not yet integrated the types of technologies, such as artificial intelligence (AI), that comprise an intelligent digital supply chain. 
 
In addition, data from a consumer study performed by SAP and The Economist Intelligence Unit indicates that during the COVID-19 pandemic, online shopping for essential products such as groceries and cleaning supplies has become more deeply entrenched, with average monthly expenditure increasing by 78% and 49% respectively for the two categories.

Baby boomers and Gen Xers are more likely to abandon some of their new online shopping behaviors and return to bricks-and-mortar once the pandemic subsides than their younger counterparts. Once COVID-19 restrictions ease, new online shopping behaviors are likely to continue but decrease slightly among younger cohorts (4% for millennials and Gen Zers), but will decrease more significantly for older cohorts (9% for baby boomers and 6% for Gen Xers).