Digital transformation and AI enhance supply chain and retail visibility

Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are increasingly adopting digital tools to optimize supply chain management. By integrating AI, automation, and real-time data, businesses are digitizing processes such as tech packs, pattern grading, and cost quoting. In one instance, transitioning from paper and email to software reduced the time required for first samples to between two and four weeks, helping move production from initial call to shipped order in an average of 87 days.

In the retail sector, a significant gap remains between recorded inventory and actual shelf availability. While warehouses and logistics are highly optimized through predictive analytics, the ‘last 10 feet’ of the journey often lack visibility. This discrepancy leads to phantom stockouts, where systems report items as in stock when they are missing from shelves, resulting in lost revenue and diminished shopper trust. To address this, retailers are beginning to implement artificial intelligence-powered computer vision and real-time data to bridge the gap between digital records and physical shelf reality.