Four major forces are fundamentally reshaping global supply chains: the rise of same-day and next-day delivery expectations, energy becoming the top location decision factor, AI adoption creating competitive advantages, and geopolitical disruption forcing companies to redesign routes and regionalize operations.
- Fast Delivery Baseline: Organizations offering same-day or next-day delivery doubled from 24% in 2019 to 58%, with 91% of leaders reporting customers expect delivery within 1-2 days.
- Energy as Top Priority: Power reliability now ranks as the #1 factor in logistics location decisions, with two-thirds of leaders reporting energy costs have significantly impacted operating expenses.
- AI as Competitive Differentiator: Two-thirds of supply chain leaders say AI adoption already differentiates their organizations, with 75% planning significant investment in AI demand forecasting over the next two years.
- Geopolitical Redesign: More than half of organizations redesigned routes and network flows in the past year, with 55% citing tariffs and 53% citing shipping corridor conflicts as major disruptions.
- Regional Strategy Shift: Companies are increasingly regionalizing (54%), nearshoring (36%), and reshoring (35%) operations to manage supply chain vulnerabilities.
Supply chain leaders are rethinking how goods move amid faster delivery expectations, rising energy needs, AI adoption and geopolitical disruption, according to the 2027 Prologis Global Supply Chain Outlook released by Prologic and conducted in partnership with The Harris Poll.
"Decisions about energy and technology are increasingly shaping where and how our customers grow," says Dan Letter, CEO of Prologis. "They need supply chains that can support their ambitions and adapt as conditions change. We work alongside our customers, combining our deep understanding of their businesses with our portfolio and solutions to help them achieve their growth goals."
Here are four forces reshaping today's global supply chains:
- Fast delivery is the new baseline. Consumer expectations continue to accelerate. The share of organizations offering same-day or next-day delivery has more than doubled since 2019, rising from 24% to 58%. At the same time, 91% of business leaders say customers increasingly expect delivery within 1-2 days. Leaders rank speed and reliability ahead of price as competitive differentiators.
- Energy is reshaping where companies build and invest. Power reliability now ranks as the top factor in logistics location decisions, ahead of transportation access, automation readiness and proximity to consumers. Two-thirds of leaders say energy costs have significantly impacted operating costs. Many organizations have adopted measures to manage higher costs, but disruptions to LNG/natural gas supply (41%) and shipping crises (40%) have exposed vulnerabilities.
- AI is becoming a competitive asset. Two-thirds of leaders say AI adoption is already differentiating their organizations from competitors, and nearly one in 10 are using AI to take share from larger rivals. AI-driven demand forecasting (43%) and agentic AI systems (39%) rank among the most transformative technologies expected to reshape supply chains over the next three years, with 75% planning significant investment in AI demand forecasting and inventory replenishment over the next two years.
- Companies are continuing to redesign supply chains to manage disruption. Leaders cite tariffs (55%) and shipping corridor conflicts (53%) as the disruptions testing supply chains most. More than half of organizations redesigned routes and network flows in the past year. Companies are also regionalizing (54%), nearshoring (36%) and reshoring (35%) operations.
