Markets are always evolving and in order to keep up with it, businesses should always evolve. These evolving markets sometimes create challenges which supply chain managers have to face and plan their activities accordingly. In 2022, there are many new challenges which a company has to face to remain competitive in retail markets. These challenges range from countries being hit by covid again and again to increased price of raw material.
In this article, we will explore some of the challenges we’re facing in supply chain management.

1. Increase in cost throughout whole process:

Profit margin of retailers is always declining or under pressure of declining because there are always extra costs coming up in the supply chain network. These extra costs arise when there is no visibility in the supply chain network or accountability for reducing these costs.

These costs can be increased by increase in prices of raw materials or rising price of fuel to transport goods by road. Increase in labor cost from manufacturer or supplier side or complex international logistics charging higher prices for storage, transfer and management of goods.

2. Difficult in demand forecasting:

When countries are getting affected by different waves of covid again and again then it becomes difficult to forecast demand for goods and services, which automatically adds up to challenges faced by many companies in supply chain management. The unpredictable covid waves make it difficult for many retailers and suppliers to forecast the demand of goods and services, leading them to predict inventory to stock or manufacture goods.

This challenge often leads to retailers facing losses either by having excess inventory when there is no demand or missing opportunities of earning profits by not having enough inventories in case of excess demand.

3. Port congestion:

Usually, ships are not always on time and when they reach port they face issues of waiting longer to unload at ports. This problem was amplified during the pandemic and port owners are still trying to find a solution for this problem. The loading and unloading at port usually have scheduled times but due to pandemic, social distancing and labor shortage has created a major bottleneck at a lot of busy global docks.

Due to this challenge many companies are not able to deliver the goods to their consumers according to their commitment, leading to loss of trust and reputation among consumers.

4. Changing consumer behavior:

Change in consumer behavior can be from a lot of perspectives. After the pandemic, many people have shifted towards a healthy lifestyle and on the other hand, the lifestyle and sleeping cycle of many people have messed up. So according to their lifestyle, needs and change in their behavior, the demand for goods and services has affected. Now, consumers have a huge amount of opportunities and they are willing to buy only from people who are able to deliver with speed and high quality of services.

So, the company has to touchpoint with an end user and needs to be focused on providing excellent products and services.

5. Adapting digital process:

Yes, digital transformation can be a challenge for supply chain management. When it comes to supply chain operations, digital transformation can be a blessing or a nightmare. There are many technologies that are created to help traditional supply chains like artificial intelligence, electric vehicles, drones and robots and on demand delivery. Even though these systems are created to help supply chain management processes, sometimes the biggest difficulty a company faces is in implementing these technologies instead of tackling actual issues in the supply chain process.

With supplymint, it provides you the required convenience to adapt to it easily with 24 hours technical support. It helps retailers to stay ahead of their supply chain challenges and cope with the dynamic market. Supplymint minimizes risk, reduces costs and increases the productivity of the entire supply chain management process.

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