Canadian Retailer - The Supply Chain & Logistics Issue - 19

already been profound, allowing for the expansion of traditional ity and accessibility, there's still room
top-down supply chains into integrated "value networks"-agile, for growth.
nonlinear webs of manufacturers, retailers, and distributors.
"It has to be easier moving forward,"
"There are also tons of applications for IoT in the supply Barton admits. "For the smaller Momchain, and inventory management that will go a long way to- and-Pop shop that doesn't know a lot
ward making things like logistics more efficient," Moneta says. about analytics, we need services that
"If you look at how some of the big guys have been doing it, are more accessible, that are easy to
and being able to integrate into those larger supply-chain sys- deploy. And when that happens, I think
tems, it's just going to get more affordable."
the penetration rate is just going to sky As it turns out, that trend toward affordability is already hap- rocket. We just have to make it easier for
pening. According to a recent Globe and Mail article, Auto-ID the world in general to do this. That's certags, which cost 50 cents each in 2015, will have dropped down tainly the direction we're going."
to 38 cents by 2020. And companies of all sizes are excited about That said, both Barton and Moneta
the possibilities; most major retailers, including Amazon, Wal- agree that retailers will eventually have
Mart, and Target, have already invested substantial capital in no choice but to join in, not just for sales,
supply chain infrastructure, and a Forbes study recently noted but for survival. With more and more
that 72 per cent of the businesses they surveyed were planning customers going digital, the ability to
on reinventing their supply chains to integrate IoT technology. use technology to enhance the brickAll of those changes look poised to pay off; in 2015, a Cisco re- and-mortar experience-whether that be
port estimated that IoT tech could have as much as a $2 trillion in logistics, manufacturing, or in-store-
impact on the logistics industry in the years ahead. Assets can is going to become increasingly crucial
be tracked anywhere in the world, allowing for greater supply in the years to come. The technology
chain efficiency, more exact on-demand orders, and ultimately, has arrived. All that remains is for retailincreased customer satisfaction.
ers to embrace the revolution.
"Any efficiencies should theoretically lead to lower prices and better service," explains Moneta. "It
allows products to be on the shelves when consumers expect them. It allows me to be able to check
things like inventory via the web, without people
having to do manual counts. The days of calling
Best Buy to ask, 'Do you have this in stock?' and
waiting for somebody to go check-are behind us."
But on an even larger scale, IoT tech is already
being used to manage entire fleets-vehicles, containers, and merchandise-collecting and analyzing data on a scale never seen before.
"We can take the router that we'd previously used
in branch offices, miniaturize it, put it into fleet
vehicles, and then run a virtual container within
these routers," Cisco's Barton says. "Then it's col- Auto-ID tags helping to transform the retail supply chain.
lecting sensor information within that truck. If
you're delivering produce, or perishable foods, we'll have temper- "When you look at retail, and the numature sensors and humidity sensors. You know if the temperature ber of people who are moving to online
is too high for particular product. Then you can send a signal to shopping, retailers are losing their cusa mobile device and let them know. A lot of information is being tomers," Barton concludes. "So, we have
to make that in-store experience better
gathered-even while the truck is in motion."
for consumers-it has to be easier to find
'It's A Digital Transformation'
the product they're looking for, to get
As with any technological revolution, the IoT has been a through the line-ups, to have an overall
long time coming. And as its expansion continues, it won't be better experience. This is what we have
without its challenges-everything from privacy, to communi- to do if we're going to turn the tide. It's
cation (some devices utilize WiFi, others Bluetooth, others IoT, but it's more than that. It's a digital
Zigbee and Z-Wave), to managing the substantial amount of transformation. It's thinking: 'How can I
data that's being generated. Infrastructure will have to expand. use digital to make the experience betSkill-sets will have to change. And in terms of both affordabil- ter for our consumers?'"

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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Canadian Retailer - The Supply Chain & Logistics Issue