If you’re running a retail supply chain, you’ve got a lot to cover right now, and the conditions that make up “VUCA” (volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity) have never been more widespread.
In uncertain times, it can be useful to understand what the wider market is doing and benchmark your decisions against other retail supply chains. This can bring new ideas and opportunities for differentiation, as well as providing useful context to help validate your own strategy.
So, if you want to know what other retail supply chain leaders are focused on, how confident they are and what they’re concerned by: read on.
The 2025 Supply Chain Compass report surveyed 671 supply chain leaders about their views on the future of supply chains, their strategic priorities, their technology stack, and more. A little over a quarter of the sample (27%) were retail supply chain leaders.
The strategic headlines
Implementing new technology is the most common strategic goal for retail supply chain leaders, with over half (53%) selecting it as one of their top three priorities for 2025.
The joint second most common strategic priorities were “improving efficiency and productivity” and “becoming more resilient to risks and challenges”, both of which were selected by 43% of the retail leaders surveyed.
Increasing profitability was a priority for 26%, and sustainability was a strategic priority chosen by a fifth (20%) of the retailers surveyed. Only 8% aimed to break silos and ensure their supply chain was connected end-to-end, and only 6% said that investing in their people was a key strategic pillar for 2025.
Confidence in success
Retailers remain broadly confident that they will achieve their top priorities. 91% of those who are implementing new technology are confident or extremely confident of success, and 86% are confident or extremely confident of succeeding at improving efficiency and productivity.
By comparison to the other top priorities, retail supply chain leaders are least confident in becoming more resilient to risks and challenges, where only 77% said they felt confident or extremely confident in succeeding, perhaps reflecting the degree to which uncertainty and fears of future disruptions are characterizing retailers’ supply chain strategies. That can be seen too in the increased emphasis retailers are placing on resilience compared to manufacturers and logistics providers. 43% of retailers made it a top three priority, compared to just 24% of manufacturers and 22% of logistics providers.
The priorities which retailers were least confident in seeing success were breaking silos to ensure end-to-end supply chain connection, and building a more agile business. Of the respondents who selected these priorities, only 64% were confident of success—by contrast, 94% of those who prioritized improving quality of service were confident that they would succeed.
