Adoption of Digital Technology in Global Third-Party Logistics Services Providers: A Review of Literature

Abstract

Tech-focused third-party logistics providers have developed solutions to streamline shipping and order fulfilment to meet sellers’ needs, often leveraging state-of-the-art information technology tools to do so. The logistics solutions that third party logistics services providers offer include receiving, storing, packing, and shipping services, including inventory management, kitting and assembly, postponement packaging, procurement and others. Digital technology has heavily revolutionized the logistics industry. The article highlights digital technology and third-party logistics service providers to understand how technology improves efficiency in the field of third-party logistics and supply chain industries. It includes GPS, Barcode, RFID, IoT, Cloud computing, Artificial Intelligence, and Blockchain. The framework suggests that performance will be higher when digital technology is used in logistics with the strengths inherent in the firm’s logistics. The methodology adopted in this paper involves the review of published literature and discussing the opportunities for further research.