Two of the last year’s most significant recent trends in supply chain management have been flexibility through the Covid-19 pandemic’s trickle-down effects and social and mobile commerce. Growing emphasis on rapid-response and adaptive supply chains has been seen during times of high demand, as we’ve seen many shortages occur across many different industries (Laudon & Traver, 2021). The ongoing chip shortage is an excellent example of this. This is a global issue that stems from many different factors and has affected a wide variety of markets, from the auto industry to computer components and other household electronics.
Social and mobile commerce has become more popular than ever. Again, the pandemic brought on a wave of mobile consumers, with companies like Amazon seeing some of their highest volumes in sales due to store closures and social distancing, affecting the ability to shop in person. With on-demand purchasing through many websites and mobile platforms, transactions can occur much faster at any moment, day or night. Supply chains need to recognize the risks that can come with high availability in consumer buying. Though this is generally a good thing, supply chains must counteract high demand for certain products. Many sites have implemented buying limits on certain items both in-store and on mobile platforms to prevent multiple transactions from individuals attempting to resell high-demand products.
B2B commerce can be very beneficial, especially to the buying company, allowing for volume purchase rates on bulk items, discounted rates through contracts, and higher availability of products and materials. Contracts always pose potential risks, whether it be losing bids to a competing company or fallout and breach of contract resulting in wasted time and resources. However, contracts usually help avoid the risk of high volatility in products and services.
Reference:
Laudon, K. C., & Traver, C. G. (2021). E-Commerce 2021: Business, Technology, and Society (16th Edition). Pearson Education (US).