Global trade is in flux. Tariffs are rising, supply chains are fragmenting, and regulatory demands are tightening. For retailers, the old playbook of low-cost sourcing no longer works. The winners in 2025 will be those who can pivot faster—embedding adaptability into sourcing, pricing, and fulfillment to turn disruption into competitive advantage.

Developed in collaboration with RCA partners, this report explores how shifting tariffs and trade policy are reshaping retail strategies. Featuring insights from leading experts, it reveals how retailers are building adaptive supply chains and future-ready operations.

While others debate AI’s potential, growth-focused supply chain leaders are already banking real returns. Our comprehensive report shows 46% of organizations have already implemented AI in their supply chains.

To help you understand where and how AI supply chain solutions create the most value, Deposco and Fulfillment IQ surveyed leaders across retail, ecommerce, 3PL, wholesale, and CPG industries. This report is your clear roadmap to unlock breakthrough ROI and competitive advantage.

When it comes to peak season, this year feels different for many retailers … because it is. New research from Deposco reveals that nearly half of retailers expect this peak season to be harder than 2024. Their trepidation is likely due to several converging factors, from persistent supply chain disruptions and rising transportation costs to tariffs and unpredictable consumer demands.

To prepare for a successful peak season, the leaders we surveyed are focusing on five areas so they can better navigate disruption.

We expect modern supply chain environments to be hyper-efficient, and a single bad barcode can set off a domino effect of disruptions like delayed shipments, failed compliance checks, internal rework, and even lost customer trust. While automation and data capture technologies continue to advance, one seemingly simple element often causes disproportionate problems: the printed barcode label. 

What if you had an assistant who continuously provided recommendations for optimizing your supply chain operations, then immediately implemented them upon your authorization? Would that assistant be even more valuable if they knew when they didn’t need to ask, but instead took immediate actions without your intervention?

Of course, no such person exists, but artificial intelligence-enabled digital twin (DT) technology has advanced to the point where this “super assistant” scenario no longer has to be just a dream. 

We sat down with RELEX experts Max Forsius, Product Director, and Rich Kurhajetz, Senior Strategist, to explore what agentic AI is, how it works in practice, and how businesses can successfully implement it. 

What is agentic AI? 

Max: AI agents are small autonomous entities that act, adapt, and collaborate with superhuman efficiency. Within a system, they can operate individually or as a network of decision-makers. You give them an objective, and they continually diagnose, optimize, and perform tasks to solve complex problems and achieve that objective. They can be triggered by data systems and, in the future, by other agents.  

This year’s report breaks down key trends and hard truths facing supply chain teams: Why visibility gaps are still slowing recovery, how supplier diversification improves resilience, the role tech stacks play in moving faster and what top-performing teams are doing differently.

See how your strategy compares—and where there’s room to improve.

Prior to the imposition of trade tariffs by the United States in April 2025, retailers already knew that they had a lot of work to do to enable an agile response to sudden changes in either supply or demand.  

Now, in the face of new pressures in the global supply chain, it is more important than ever for retailers to use modeling techniques to better anticipate disruptions and potential corrective actions, to monitor the flow of goods at a more granular level, and to respond quickly to exception conditions when they inevitably occur.