Recently, the urban population growth rate outgrew the suburban growth rate. Millennials and young workers are moving to the urban areas in large masses because they prefer living in cities as a way of reducing transportation expense and commuting time. The rapid urbanization is quickly influencing how consumers purchase the goods, their preferred goods, and how the products are delivered. For companies to be successful, they should evaluate and understand the buying patterns, characteristics, and preferences of its consumers. Business should assess how the changing demographics will affect their organizations in the next decade. Analyzing the impact of urbanization on logistics and warehousing as well as the impact on their primary consumers will help them develop strategies that will improve their success in the globalized economy. The essay will analyze the effect of urbanization in the supply chain over the next ten years.
Most companies are concerned about how corporations will affect business sustainability and growth. Less than 50% of all business feel prepared to face the challenges posed by business operations and logistics. About 46% of companies feel confident about addressing the problems of urbanization on the supply chain ( Christopher, 2016) . Other top concerns include traffic congestion and reduced air quality as well as noise, transportation, and safety. However, the most significant challenges to more sustainable and efficient logistics are lack of critical infrastructure and insufficient collaboration in public and private sectors to address the issue. The challenges show that there is the complexity of logistics within the growing urban environments. The increased congestion and urbanization has made logistics more challenging to manage and less predictable. If all levels of government do not implement innovative solutions to address the issue, the country will face increased risks of emissions and congestion.
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By 2050, the urban population may increase to 66% from the current 54%. The largest increase in urban population will be from the emerging economies in Africa and Asia. About 3 out of every five people will be living in cities. Congested cities will translate to more traffic, and it will account for longer lead times and slower deliveries. To avoid the negative impact of congestion, logistics companies may be forced to have fewer hubs and more spokes in the cities. The products will be transported to the big warehouses in the outskirts by heavy commercial vehicles while products in the city warehouses will be delivered by light commercial vehicles ( Rushton, Croucher, & Baker, 2014) . In about a decade, the spending on logistic has almost doubled. The forecasts reveal that the urban logistics expenditure will increase to over $6 trillion in 2025 against the current $3 trillion.
As the migration from rural to urban areas increases, more megacities will develop, and it will create some new demand patterns among the perceived consumers, and it will affect all logistics players. The businesses will have to address the increased expectations of improved convenience from consumers and the greater complexity of logistics within the urban areas. The segments that will greatly benefit from the rapid urbanization are warehousing, road transport, and the hinterland terminals ( Wisner, Tan, & Leong, 2014) . The contract logistics segment may also experience increased demand. Air and rail transport may also benefit as people look for a better point to point connections within the cities. However, over the next decade, there may be emerging problems such as:
Inadequate transparency and information sharing.
Insufficient infrastructure such as space for unloading and loading goods.
Increased air pollution and inefficient energy consumption.
Increased operating costs in warehouses.
Traffic congestion and noise.
Transportation of goods within the urban centers will be the essential function of residents and businesses. There will be higher demands for warehousing. Also, most residents will view e-commerce as a viable alternative to the increased congestion. The rise in e-commerce will affect the entire supply chain. About 81% of business will start offering e-commerce options as they build their brands on the global scale. Most consumers will evaluate products online before making a purchase. Businesses will have to have improved transportation from warehouses to address customer demands. Some of the technologies that will assist companies to evaluate movement along the supply chain include location-based tracking, traffic predicting tools, geofencing, RFID tags, bar codes, road sensors, and GPS devices ( Monczka et al., 2015) . If unexpected disruptions occur, companies will allow the deliveries to be either rescheduled or redirected. Another trend is that there will be increased expenditure on high-speed rail projects. Companies will improve their use of rail for freight deliveries.
The essay analyzes the effect of urbanization in the supply chain over the next ten years. For a business to address the increased challenges of urbanization, businesses should make their supply chains more agile and leaner. The companies should vary their production according to demand so that the consumers may spend less time from order to delivery. Furthermore, companies should improve their expenditure on technology so that it will optimize their supply chain processes. Also, they should examine a broader supply chain network for the next decade and make the necessary reconfigurations. The supply chains should be more resilient and diverse to survive uncertain risks. Although there will be higher demands for products and warehousing, consumers will have a higher desire for efficiency and reduced time from order to delivery ( Brindley, 2017) . Increased spending on logistics will force business to look for better techniques of delivering goods and services along the supply chain at lower costs. The demographic changes will not only affect how products are purchased and sold, but it will also affect their delivery.
References
Brindley, C. (Ed.). (2017). Supply chain risk . Taylor & Francis.
Christopher, M. (2016). Logistics & supply chain management . Pearson UK.
Monczka, R. M., Handfield, R. B., Giunipero, L. C., & Patterson, J. L. (2015). Purchasing and supply chain management . Cengage Learning.
Rushton, A., Croucher, P., & Baker, P. (2014). The handbook of logistics and distribution management: Understanding the supply chain . Kogan Page Publishers.
Wisner, J. D., Tan, K. C., & Leong, G. K. (2014). Principles of supply chain management: A balanced approach . Cengage Learning.
