Supply chain boom to continue in 2014

November 21 2013

Last month, this blog covered the boom in shipping that can be expected this holiday season. Online shopping is making the need for proper delivery systems even more important. Companies like FedEx and the United States Postal Service have already come out and said they believe there could be record setting days coming up in the next month.

While that is certainly good news it could potentially only be the beginning of a shipping boom. According to an article from Supply Chain Management Review, demand has the potential to surge in 2014. This comes from the latest IHS Global Insight "flash forecast" report.

"Third-quarter real GDP grew at a 2.8 percent annual rate—well above consensus expectations, although 0.8 percentage point of this growth came from increased inventories," Chief U.S. economist Doug Handler told the news source. "We believe at least some of these inventories were unplanned, triggering offsetting forecast changes in the coming months."

The article goes on to say that with the improved economy, growth would accelerate through 2014. This will be lead by an upturn in housing and equipment investment and the absence of a government spending drag. This will also be affected by increased employment rates, as October saw the creation of 204,000 jobs.

All of this will lead to an improved economy and a loosening of the purse strings. Organizations need to make sure its supply chain and logistics solutions are up to the challenge that come along with a sudden boom in demand across the board.