Ti report offers insight into the technologies affecting the future of e-commerce

February 16, 2017

By Alex Le Roy

• Amazon and Alibaba are manoeuvring to establish themselves as players in the transportation of cross-border freight. Through further incremental actions, these companies will become increasingly influential.
• Artificial Intelligence is becoming increasingly pervasive within various points in the supply chain, though as of yet, the technology is limited by the availability of data.
• 3D Printing is unlikely to ‘disrupt’ e-commerce, though it will have a significant role in the customisation of products.

Ti is pleased to announce that the latest edition of its best-selling report, Global e-commerce Logistics 2017, is now available to purchase. The report provides industry leading analysis of the logistics behind e-commerce throughout the world, with detailed regional breakdowns, cost analysis and market sizing data, as well as an analysis of the technological changes being visited upon the industry.

Ti Analyst Alexander Le Roy commented: “Though consumers may not be aware of the complexities involved in physically delivering e-commerce orders, they place significant demands upon logistics providers. It is an incredibly competitive sector.”

Le Roy adds that this is causing a scramble for technological solutions in order to meet customer expectations: “Logistics is not well known for technology, and consumers are very perceptive of this. The adoption of cloud computing and the proliferation of mobile devices are, together, now allowing logistics providers to provide much better visibility to e-commerce shipments, but this isn’t enough. People want as much delivery flexibility as possible, and to execute that in a cost-efficient manner, companies will increasingly turn towards AI.”

In the lead up to the report’s publication, Ti conducted an online poll asking respondents to select which technology they believe will have the greatest impact on e-commerce supply chains over the next five years. The results demonstrated a bullish attitude towards warehouse automation and artificial intelligence, which were selected by 32.6% and 28.3% of participants, respectively. The next most popular category was Autonomous Vehicles, with 17.4% of responses, followed by 3D Printing with 15.2%. The remaining 6.5% of survey participants selected their own alternatives to the listed options, with blockchain prominent.

Global e-commerce Logistics 2017 contains detailed analysis into each of these technologies as well as additional areas such as augmented reality, assessing market viability and barriers to adoption.

 

For more information please contact:

Michael Clover, Business Development Manager, E: [email protected]