Changing seasons, changing habits

As we finally start to see the end of the pandemic in a number of places across the globe, we watch the world’s economy with keen interest. A number of changes are taking place worldwide. We’re seeing supply chains amend their processes entirely; we’re seeing consumers change their shopping habits; we’re even seeing businesses sacrifice uncapped profitability for secured customer loyalty.

In this newsletter we discuss all of the above, as well as the results of market research we’ve conducted this quarter. We’ve discovered market insights into supply chain trends, onshoring and sustainability.

Over the past quarter, we conducted a number of polls and surveys relating to the topics and initiatives relevant to Proco Global and our audience. Here’s some of the research we’ve collected about trends and developments across the supply chain this quarter:

Onshoring

Onshoring is a trend occurring in the wake of COVID-19 that many expect to continue in the near future. This refers to the process of bringing one’s manufacturing processes back to the country from which the business originates. This is in contrast to offshoring, which benefits from cheaper labour costs. However, due to the pandemic, many businesses are now onshoring their practices and our research suggests that this will continue over the next couple years. Onshoring helps ensure shorter delivery times and therefore, customer loyalty, despite higher costs of labour.

Supply Chains

The future of global end-to-end supply chains are precarious, to say the least. The pandemic exacerbated many gaping holes in current manufacturing systems, resulting in scenes like empty supermarket shelves and hoarding toilet paper. Supply chains are now changing to adapt to such problems, should they continue to be a problem. One such way, according to our research, is to move to a just-in-case system. This will increase stock holdings, but reduce delivery times and ensure reliability within the supply chain.

Sustainability

Sustainability is everyone’s favourite word nowadays. But how different companies choose to be sustainable can vary wildly. According to our market research, most prefer two main types of eco-friendly behaviour: reducing the waste you produce and using sustainable materials. These are the most popular methods of reducing environmental impact within a business capacity.