In preparing for 2022, retail and 3PL supply chain management teams should focus on some critical questions:

1. Do you have an omnichannel strategy?
2. Does your team understand FBA of the other e-commerce marketplaces?
3. Are you positioned to execute your management's operational strategy?
4. Can you measure and report your success?

2021 saw many changes to the traditional warehousing landscape. Organizations continued to move away from positioning large buildings in the country's center. The continued growth of warehouses closer to ports or large customer populations supports two-day or less delivery windows. More of their competitors are taking final mile delivery in-house. Labor shortages will continue for the foreseeable future.

The critical question facing all supply chain executives is finding the correct niche to benefit their customers. Are they in that niche? Can they execute on the strategy, and do their teams have the right skill set?

If you are serving the consumer sector, does everyone understand how to work with Amazon? Amazon will continue to dominate for the foreseeable future, so it is critical that your teams and processes understand how to navigate the FBA, Vendor Central, and Amazon fulfillment practices. Does someone on your team read, understand and communicate the way to stay compliant with your customer and the major e-commerce marketplaces? Have you begun your final mile implementation? Small package carriers have run out of capacity, so many companies are forming their final mile delivery networks. This is another contributing factor to driver and labor shortages, and more and more drivers are needed locally to meet the 2-day delivery standard that Amazon Prime has set.

It has been said that people are your most valuable asset. In many major U.S. labor markets, warehouse wages rose between $2 to 7 dollars an hour. Even these increases were not enough to guarantee a steady workforce. Walmart and Amazon began giving their associates educational and entrepreneurial benefits that had not been seen previously in warehouses. It has forced many warehouses to look at how they will retain their top performers next year and in the future. These discussions should be ongoing at the warehouse floor and management levels. As more workers leave the workforce, creative solutions will require a shift away from traditional thoughts on warehouse duties and hours. Not addressing this problem will put many companies in the position of relying on transitory temp labor who should not be expected to perform at the levels of a well-trained staff.