The global market for luxury goods is experiencing a clear shift toward e-commerce. To stay competitive both on- and offline, luxury brands and marketplaces need to enhance supply chain visibility and security. What does that mean, and how can you do that? Our experts have answers.

Promising value. Delivering value.

If your business involves luxury goods – such as high-end fashion, jewelry, and beauty products – there’s a good chance business is pretty good. While the environment is challenging in some regions, the mid- to long-term outlook for the global luxury goods market is up. But it’s also a dynamic place, with rapidly changing consumer behavior, new market trends, and technology reshaping the landscape. Right now we’re seeing a clear shift toward online sales, which are projected to exceed 20 percent by 2029.

This evolving market brings challenges that many traditional luxury brands have never faced before – or have only dealt with at the local or regional level. But this evolution also means opportunity. Luxury brands can now leverage technology to rebalance inventories on a global scale in real time to meet changing local and regional demand – or to protect themselves – and their customers – against threats like e-commerce fraud.

This quick overview article highlights how you can boost your brand’s value through improved visibility and security in your supply chains. For deeper insights, dive directly into our new study, The Logistics of Luxury.

Tech to the rescue: supply chain opportunities for success

We can describe the key to unlocking better visibility and security in luxury goods supply chains in one word: technology. More specifically, we are talking about advanced control tower solutions.

What is a control tower in the world of logistics, you ask? Much like an airport’s control tower, these solutions offer centralized control of the supply chain, overseeing the safe and orderly flow of all parts. Control towers utilize the Internet of Things (IoT) to track assets in today’s order fulfillment and supply chain operations.

Let us take a closer look at the benefits.

Supply chain visibility enables “available to promise”

Enhanced visibility improves profit margins, sustainability, and brand value while delivering a superior customer experience. Here is how:

• Accurate, up-to-the-minute inventory visibility better allocates supply to demand while optimizing inventory levels, cash flow, and profitability.
• Premium customer service through minimized stock shortages and maximized product availability (e.g., balancing stock shortages with overstock).
• Comprehensive track and trace across all inventories offers a holistic view, from raw materials to finished products.
• Bonus: End-to-end visibility reveals environmental impact and potential optimizations

By using control tower solutions, you can balance inventories globally across channels and markets, ensuring you are always stocked where demand is high. Your “available-to-sell” inventory becomes “available-to-promise” inventory – products you can guarantee will be there for future orders from high-value customers.

Supply chain security counters e-commerce threats

Technology also plays a vital role in addressing security challenges in the luxury industry, such as:

• Physical threats: Robbery, break-ins, and rolling hits on transports.
• Insider threats: Theft or sabotage of deliveries enabled by insiders who misuse their access to secure areas and data.
• E-commerce fraud: Fake transport IDs, false delivery claims, phishing, and more designed to steal sensitive customer or company data.

Many of these risks are hard to detect and prosecute without the proper tools. State-of-the-art supply chains can leverage control tower solutions with end-to-end piece-level tracking to enhance security and product integrity.

Taking the first steps toward better supply chain visibility and security

Here are a few measures luxury brands can take:

Visibility

Technology is revolutionizing logistics, making end-to-end supply chain visibility a reality. Brands can consolidate and bridge visibility gaps by using the latest solutions.

But even the most sophisticated control tower solution cannot track and analyze what it does not see. That is why individual asset tracking is crucial – capturing and analyzing data like performance metrics, costs, and carbon footprint allows for targeted improvements.

Control tower solutions can help luxury brands unlock hidden value in their supply chains by optimizing inventories, safeguarding product integrity, minimizing carbon emissions, and improving customer experiences.

Security

These solutions can also help counter security threats, adding value and building trust. Key measures include:

• Tamper-evident packaging to detect compromised packages, reducing risk.
• Educating customers about how they can verify product authenticity.
• Streamlining claims processes for timely, accurate reporting.
• Thorough investigation before issuing refunds to prevent fraud.
• Encouraging theft or fraud reporting to law enforcement.

The right logistics partner can leverage control tower solutions to validate claims and prevent unnecessary losses.

Supply chain visibility and security for successful luxury logistics

As luxury sales increasingly move online, the challenges facing the luxury goods sector are evolving. But the good news is that with the tips above – and the right logistics partner – luxury brands and marketplaces can thrive. And ultimately deliver a premium experience for e-commerce customers.

To dive deeper into protecting your brand’s value across the supply chain, download our report: "The Logistics of Luxury.”

This story was first published on DHL Delivered and was republished with permission.