Page 4 - Logistics News - December 2021

T H OU GHT L E A D E R SHIP

Line of

sight

The right data is critical to
clean ‘line of sight’ into the
entire supply chain.

By Andrew Dawson,
MD at MACmobile

‘ ine of sight’ in the supply chain has taken is through specialist point-of-sale devices, and this is
on a new meaning in the age of artificial
where the market focus currently lies. The problem
L intelligence (AI) and machine learning is the human factor – in the main (informal) market,
(ML). Rather than simply tracking stock movements spaza shop owners tend to be selective of what they
and using this data to attempt to influence the end run through these point-of-sale devices, for a number
consumer to buy a product, there is now massive of reasons.
investment in trying to ‘own’ the retailer from a
data perspective. The focus has shifted to tracking Many spaza customers are unbanked and retailers
everything retailers sell and who they sell to, run on a cash basis, making it easy to bypass these
preferably in real time. devices. In addition, they may not wish for their true
revenue to be identifiable, or they may not want
However, while this may work at a formal retail the manufacturer or wholesaler to see their pricing
level, in the main market there are challenges that and stock movements. This, then, obscures line of
often obscure line of sight due to missing data. sight since the data is incomplete and potentially
Addressing this ‘missing link’ and obtaining the right inaccurate. The view into the ecosystem is noisy, and
data from throughout the supply chain is key to the insight into the end of the supply chain is not
gaining clear line of sight and realising the true value necessarily a true reflection. Decisions made based
L O GI S T I CS NEWS The South African challenge value.
on this data, therefore, cannot be trusted at face
proposition of data.

The missing element
Understanding stock movements at a retail level as
While trust in point-of-sale data may improve as
well as the behaviour of retailers is valuable data.
However, the only real way of achieving this currently

2 NO V E MB E R/D E C E MB E R 2021 retailers gain confidence and reassurance around
www .l o g ist i csn e w s .c o .z a