How AI Could Help Retailers Reach Net Zero

When we think about streamlining supply chains, the first things that spring to mind are efficiency, cost, and avoiding those ‘just in time’ snafus we’ve seen so many of in the years since 2020.

The answer to all that? Well, it’s complicated. We need demand sensing and planning, supply sensing and forecasting, and eventually tools for keeping tabs on real-time inventory management and dynamic margin optimisation.

Luckily, AI supply chain management offers all of that.

How does that relate to hitting net-zero?

Net zero as an aim used to be something only tech companies and car transport providers thought about. But in 2022, net zero is everyone’s problem. Or, everyone’s opportunity.

As more and more companies commit to a timeline for net zero - including food and beverage giants CoCa-Cola, every potential save in energy, food miles, and production could end up making a huge difference to how quickly ecological goals are met.

In short, there is a hunger for net zero

In fact, consumer consciousness and buying choices are increasingly impacted by environmental awareness. As Gen Z become an important part of the buying market, their environmental savvy means making sure your entire supply chain is as eco-friendly as possible has never been more important.

So, it’s genuinely time for companies to put their money where their mouth is when it comes to sustainability. There needs to be genuine investigation into where emissions can be cut. And the results might surprise you as a business owner.

In fact, one Mckinsey report found that 80% of a company’s emissions often come from its supply chain.

If you don’t have tight control over that supply chain - knowledge of it as a joined up enterprise - then there will be gaps in which excessive emissions (as well as inefficiencies) can occur.

What AI supply chain management can achieve

As well as making choices about supply routes, producing for what will actually be sold rather than over or under producing, and making sure supply routes are as streamlined as possible, Singular Intelligence has worked with major supermarkets to increase shelf-life and reduce waste.

We work from farm to store to make sure that nothing is wasted, plugging those potential almost invisible gaps that are keeping you from getting closer to net zero.

Because in the end, the thing is, net zero isn’t just about reducing emissions in the way most people might assume. It’s about efficiency. We need to get the right products to the right places at the right time - and that’s what Singular Intelligence is all about. We need a joined-up system, and knowledge of what might disrupt those systems at any point.

AI supply chain management isn’t just a helpful tool for food and beverage and consumer products businesses to reach net zero, it’s essential to the process.