A study carried out by IGD’s Efficient Consumer Response (ECR) UK board has found that some 78% of retailers and 71% of suppliers believe reducing road miles to be either “the biggest” or “a significant opportunity” for cost savings in their supply chains.
The study was presented at the IGD Supply Chain Summit, taking place in London today (11 November).
In addition, the study found that there is a growing appetite for shared transport, with 55% of respondents identifying it as one of the top three opportunities to reduce road miles over the next ten years.
Designing collaborative logistics networks (identified by 36% of respondents) and more intelligent routing and scheduling (31%) were also highlighted.
The data forms part of ECR UK’s Reducing Wasted Miles programme, which seeks to provide insight into how businesses can work collaboratively to deliver more efficient transport and logistics networks.
“With intense retail competition, pressure on margins and rising shopper expectations, supply chains continue to undergo huge change and levels of uncertainty,” said Darren Smillie, Supply Chain Insight Manager at IGD.
“Opportunities for companies to deliver savings internally are getting incrementally harder and a collaborative approach is becoming increasingly essential across our industry.”
© 2015 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Stephen Wynne-Jones. To subscribe to ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine, click here.
