From Logistics Manager Magazine,
Published Wednesday 5 June 2019 3:20 pm

Some logistics companies will evolve to become retailers, according to a new study from the IGD in association with The Consumer Goods Forum.

The report, Digital Retail Models of the Future, argues that these logistics companies “will make the most of their supply chain and operational expertise, which are critical success factors in e-commerce profitability. They will launch their own web sites.”

This is just one of the predictions in the report, which forecasts that the global online food and consumer goods sales are set to grow 163 per cent by 2023.

Asia-Pacific’s online grocery market will grow by 196 per cent by 2023, adding $198bn.

North America’s online grocery market will grow by 152 per cent by 2023, adding $38bn.

Europe’s online grocery market will grow by 66 per cent by 2023, adding $21bn.

“The digitisation of the food and CPG industry has already disrupted and transformed the industry, yet the story has only just begun,” said IGD chief executive Susan Barratt. “To help businesses understand the opportunities and challenges that businesses face, we have identified three retail models that have developed as the food and CPG industry digitises and we project how these business models will evolve.”

The IGD predicts that technology-led strategic partnerships will accelerate rapidly, and technology companies will have a much stronger influence on CPG retailing. And retailers with the best data capabilities will win in the long term by becoming incrementally better every single day.

For Ecommerce 2.0 it predicts that some logistics companies will evolve to become retailers. Successful pure-plays will diversify offline, either by opening their own stores or forming alliances with traditional retailers. Manufacturer D2C businesses will become a major force and they could be consolidated through a single ordering platform. Specialist retailers and marketplaces will proliferate.

And it says, a network of retail and consumer services is emerging, linked by logistics, financial services and technology.