The supply chain is experiencing market difficulties like never before. But exacerbating those issues are old problems stemming from the way supply chain teams work with the rest of their business, whether that’s misaligned KPIs, or minimal feedback loops. As host of popular supply chain podcast ‘What’s in the Box’, Sam Greenhalgh speaks to a different industry figure every week. In this session, he’ll share some of the recurring challenges that e-commerce leaders are coming up against, and how to start addressing them.

1. Strictly private & confidential
The most common
obstacles to intelligent
inbound logistics
And how you can overcome them
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FOCUS ON FREIGHT

2. Sam Greenhalgh
Sales director,
podcast host
Zencargo
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Who am I?

3. Shipping a container from China-
Europe costs 6x more than it was a year
ago.
Freight costs are eating into margins.
We’re in the middle of a global supply chain crisis
Only 1 in 3 ships arrives on time, and
the average delayed ship is 7 days late.
Inventory levels are at risk.
Port congestion and shortages of
drivers means last-minute cancellations.
Executing a plan is unpredictable.
Rates are through the
roof
Delays are growing
Changes can happen at
the last minute

4. I can’t remember a time like this - and I’ve
been doing this for over 25 years.
Operations Director, Global Apparel Retailer
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5. Solving these issues is
especially important for
e-commerce
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6. With a digital, integrated supply chain
platform, data can flow throughout the
whole ecosystem (sales, ordering etc).
Why is inbound logistics so important for successful e-
commerce?
Intelligent logistics improve customer
satisfaction via transparent delivery
and inventory assurance.
A sophisticated view of all activity from
manufacturers, companies and vendors
creates full supply chain control.
Ecommerce winners run
on end-to-end data
Ecommerce winners need
the best customer service
Ecommerce winners thrive
with supplier complexity

7. That’s why the world’s
fastest-growing e-
commerce and
marketplace businesses
come to us to intelligently
ship, track and optimise
their cargo.
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8. How can you forge
a path forward?
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9. Our current supply chain crisis
is exacerbated by old obstacles.
Solving those problems means
you can respond better.

10. 10
What are the
most common
obstacles?
Misaligned KPIs
Lack of feedback loops
Information flow at
handover points
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To achieve all of these, you need to bring
greater alignment to the business at large

11. 1. Misaligned KPIs between
commercial and supply chain
Done wrong, KPIs can be damaging or have
adverse effects.
EXAMPLE
● Two centuries ago, cobras were causing
damage in India
● The government offered a reward for every
snake that was killed and brought to them
● They discovered people had started
breeding cobras, to kill them and claim the
reward
The incentives of one team can cause problems
for another team.
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Teams need to work towards shared goals.
Photo by James Wainscoat on Unsplash

12. 2. The lack of feedback loops to
facilitate improvements
Additional costs - both of money and time -
can become embedded within processes.
EXAMPLE
● A company selected a new, cheaper ink for
their products.
● The printers noticed the ink was gumming
up the machines, but there was no clear way
to share the information.
● The same mistake was repeated, eventually
costing more than the first, expensive ink.
Without a connected overview, simple mistakes
get repeated ad infinitem.
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Teams must be connected to avoid
problems.
Photo by Bank Phrom on Unsplash

13. 3. Difficulty of information flow
at handover points
The sharing of useful information is very
difficult across multiple stakeholders.
EXAMPLE
● March 2021: the Ever Given lodges in the
Suez Canal
● Nearly 2 million TEU would be affected
● Understanding where goods are in the chain
becomes vital to understand potential impact
This makes responding sensibly to changes slow
and painstaking.
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Information must live in a single source of
truth.
Satellite image of Ever Given blocking the canal
on 24 March 2021

14. ● Ability to act on
opportunities
● Accountability over
decision making
● Adapting to market
changes instantly
● SKU-level visibility over
the entire inbound supply
chain
● Connecting to multiple
sources & teams
● Surfacing current,
automated, accurate data
● Exceptions and
opportunities flagged
● Collaboration facilitated
across all stakeholders
● Proactive updates
To overcome these obstacles, you need three things
Visibility Understanding Execution

15. 15
We create one connected data journey across your supply chain
Data infrastructure
Your teams get live visibility of their
SKUs’ journeys, plus insights and
collaboration tools:
Analytics & Reporting
Chat & Alerts
Rules Engine
Delay attribution
Our platform creates a data foundation
across stakeholders/systems, including:
ERPs and product catalogues
Ocean / air tracking
Carriers
Manufacturers
Our operations teams use the platform to
intelligently move goods and respond to
change:
End to end logistics services
Predictive delay mitigation
Performance optimisation
Freight execution
Customer platform

16. The future is connected,
flexible, agile logistics.
Zencargo is already there.

17. Join us at Navigate
Thursday 4th November, 3-6pm CET
Expert speakers from across the
industry
Sessions on consumer trends, the
future of the supply chain function
and more
Virtual - join from anywhere
Sign up now, or visit
navigate.zencargo.com