Nearly 40 percent of Asian food retailers are unaware of logistics costs while six in 10 Indian food retailers are struggling to maintain adequate stocks, said a global logistics player DHL report released on Wednesday.
The "Hungry for Growth' report, commissioned by DHL, surveyed 300 industry decision makers in India, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam and found that in the last three countries, one in four food retailers anticipate to grow by 10 percent or more in 2015, while in India, the figure was four in 10.
And one in three retailers do not track their supply chain performance despite growing complexity, the report said.
The other findings included that 12 percent of Indian retailers sought to improve performance by fully outsourcing their supply chain while 40 percent believe in inventory optimization, transport management, and workforce planning technologies to be beneficial to their overall supply chain results, the statement added.
The research was done between December 2014 and April 2015 on food retailers who sell food for off-premise consumption which included grocery stores, convenience stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets, and specialist stores like butcheries and bakeries.
"Food retailers need reliable, agile supply lines if they are to focus on their core competencies and compete," said DHL Supply Chain Asia Pacific vice president, retail, Dean Eichorn in a statement.
"Many of these concerns are amplified because a large number of food retailers don't have visibility of their logistics operations, let alone the resources or subject expertise to improve and optimize them," he added.