Labor shortages and shifts in customer demand are a few of the latest challenges that companies are experiencing in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic. Supply chain visibility (SCV) is now a major priority, but businesses can’t understand SCV without data. Location analytics can provide organizations with the insights they need to get end-to-end visibility into supply chains. Here are three reasons why companies should use location analytics improve supply chain visibility.

Global supply chains in many industries have been significantly impacted by inflation and other factors. Because of this, it’s important for businesses to pinpoint anomalies in their supply chains. These anomalies can cause unexpected increases or decreases in foot traffic at the warehouses and other locations along supply chains.

To illustrate this concept, let’s say that a manufacturing warehouse isn’t getting as much traffic from its raw material suppliers as it used to. This could indicate that there may be an issue with obtaining raw materials, or that there isn’t enough demand for the final product. This insight tells the manufacturer that it may need to find a different supplier.

A big part of supply chain visibility is labor supply. Supply chains can’t function properly if they are understaffed or even overstaffed. Enterprise location intelligence can provide manufacturers with information to adjust staffing strategies. For example, an appliance manufacturer has hired extra staff to keep up with increasing customer demand, but with foot traffic to the appliance retailer slowing down, the manufacturer would know to limit production and in turn, adjust staff hours. The manufacturer reduces costs and saves time by adapting its staffing strategies based on near real-time location analytics.

Fluctuations in customer demand is one of the biggest challenges for businesses. One way to get ahead of this is to predict future demand with data. With location analytics, companies can get ahead of emerging trends. This gives manufacturers and suppliers the ability to ramp up or slow down production for a specific product. 

Insights from foot traffic data can give manufacturers, suppliers, and business partners an understanding of demand in particular trade areas. Let’s go back to that appliance company example. If a manufacturer caters to an appliance company that serves a specific part of town, the manufacturer would be able to see how much foot traffic the appliance store is getting and make sure that their assembly line is up to par. In addition to this, the manufacturer could also delegate production according to the customer demand for a specific product or a specific store that they are working with.

By analyzing enterprise location intelligence, companies can overcome supply chain challenges with data-driven operational strategies. If your business is looking to enrich its supply chain visibility data, contact us to speak with an expert about our data solutions today.