Connected Logistics Market – Connecting the World

The connected logistics market is estimated to be valued at US$8,669.325 million in 2019.

Connected logistics is defined as an interdependent set of communication devices, joints, and Internet of Things (IoT) technologies that can change the key logistical processes to become more customer-centric by sharing data, information, and facts with the supply chain partners. Increase in the adoption of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies and sensor-based technologies such as RFID in various domains including the Supply Chain Management (SCM) system is expected to boost the connected logistics market in the forecast period. In addition, the decreasing cost of sensors and the requirement of the operational efficiency is further augmenting the connected logistics market during the forecasted period.

The advancing future technologies such as Advanced analytics and Big Data will act as the catalyser for the Logistics 4.0 adoption. The data is collected from the connected and smart supply chain and logistics which can be converted into actionable insights using the Artificial Intelligence systems thus improving the capacity planning.

According to CISCO, the global internet traffic from the non-PC devices was 47% of the total IP traffic in 2019 and is expected to be 71% of the total IP traffic in 2020. In addition, Machine-To-Machine (M2M) connections is expected to be the half of the total connected devices and connections in the world by 2023, thus, there will be 14.7 M2M connections by 2023 from 33% in 2018.

However, the lack of uniform governance standards, logistics security and safety issue and the lack of the data management and interoperability is expected to create a challenge for the market growth of the connected logistics during the forecasted period.

Market Players included in the report of the Connected Logistics Market are Intel Corporation, Losant IoT, Bosch Service Solutions GmbH, SAP SE, E2open, IBM   Corporation, Infosys Limited, Freightgate Inc., Agility, and ATT Logistics

Market Size by Region

Global connected logistics on the basis of region is segmented as North America, South America, Europe, Middle East, and Africa, and the Asia Pacific.

North America is expected to hold the major share of the market. This is primarily due to the early adoption of the technology and the presence of the well-established internet infrastructure.  North America have adopted connected logistics solutions that leverage advanced technologies such as big data, machine learning, cloud computing, artificial intelligence, and the Internet of Things (IoT).  For instance, King County Department of Transportation upgraded to Infor Inc’s asset tracking solutions – CloudSuite EAM in 2019 to efficiently manage 1,500 buses and 171 transit base structures/facilities. The CloudSuite EAM solution is estimated to track 46,988 pieces of in-service equipment which span across multiple divisions and departments. However, due to the outbreak of Covid-19, the government of the United States have shut down all the logistic operation which is negatively impacting the industry. The government is however showing more flexibility towards online assistance and telework which is expected to drive the connected logistics market during the forecasted period.

While Asia Pacific region is expected to witness a rapidly growing CAGR during the forecasted period due to the increasing number of SMEs, increasing expenditure towards setting up the internet infrastructure, booming e-commerce industry, and focusing to develop Internet of Things-enabled solutions for the effective supply chain management. China is the largest e-commerce market globally and the region witness over 50% of the transactions. According to Dezan Shira and Associates, China’s e-commerce market is predicted to be larger than USA, UK, Germany, France, and Japan combined in 2020. China online retail sales reached USD 1.33 trillion in 2018 and is forecasted to reach USD 1.99 trillion by the end of 2019. Growth is majorly attributed to the establishment of a global logistics network and the development in the internet infrastructure.

Market Size by Segment

Connected Logistics Market on the basis of software is segmented as Asset Management, Warehouse IoT, Security, Data Management, Network Management and Streaming Analytics. Walmart is using machine learning, the Internet of Things (IoT), and Big Data to transform its retail operation and apply it to improve the experience of its customers. Walmart was one of the early adopters of RFID tags to track their inventories.

The connected logistics market on the basis of transport is segmented as Roadways, Railways, Airways, and Seaways. Roadway’s segment is expected to hold the largest share of the connected logistics market by basis of transportation and is expected to grow during the forecasted period. This mainly attributed to the rising requirement to organize and manage the flow of the good in distribution, production.

 While seaways segment is expected to witness the fastest-growing segment on account of rising the need for the ocean freight solution for the transportation of the frozen cargo.

Market Growth

The increasing applications and adoption of future technologies and the Internet of Things (IoT) by different technologies is expected to increase the market demand of connected technologies. Huawei released the Smart Logistics Solution during MWC 2019 to aid the enterprises in enhancing the efficiency in logistics industry such as in warehousing, transportations, distribution, thus, facilitating agile innovations and achieving digital, intelligent and information-based management. The organisations are increasingly adopting technology-based logistics to increase the efficiency and speed of their transactions. According to the survey conducted by Verizon is 2019, concluded that more than one-third of the fleet managers who do not use the fleet tracking solutions expect an increase in productivity if they implemented the technology. Further, the survey also indicates that over 53% of the companies who make use of the asset tracking solution report the actual productivity increase as most of the respondents to report positive growth in productivity (53% respondents) and compliance (52% respondents).

Intel announced cost-effective internet of things (IoT) solution, the Intel Connected Logistics Platform (Intel CLP) in 2019 that enable the users to monitor the condition of the location and condition of assets throughout the supply chain in any environment.