As global supply chains prepare for a new era of disruption, global trade challenges, and heightened consumer expectations, the 2025 State of Supply Chain Report reveals timely insights into how brands are responding to new hurdles — and where they’re falling short.
According to the research, the top five supply chain risks consumer brands ranked in order of priority for 2025 are:
- Price increases due to proposed tariffs
- Supply shortages
- Rising transportation costs
- Geopolitical tensions
- Transportation delays
But whether they’re equipped to face those challenges head-on is a different story.
Below, we’ve summarized key findings from the report and what they mean for brands looking to not just make it through the supply chain maze, but master it, in 2025.
Only 21% of brands feel extremely confident in their ability to handle supply chain disruptions
While some brands will invest in tools to help them weather any storm that 2025 brings, budget limitations could be responsible for many brands’ concerns about their ability to handle supply chain shocks.
The actions brands should take right now:
- Task Automation: Unlock better cost efficiency by automating as many tasks as possible within their existing tech stack.
- Predictive Analytics and Reporting: Evaluate what you can track, what’s missing, and what technology offers capabilities to close any gaps.
- Supply Chain Risk Prevention: Communicate with your senior leadership about the opportunities to unlock additional operational budget if supply chain disruptions arise.
Visibility is still a challenge for 59% of brands
Brands uncertain about their resilience all share one weakness: none have top-tier supply chain visibility within their existing ERP.
With 66% of brands saying that real-time visibility is a critical part of their disruption recovery strategy, this year’s research highlights a disconnect between the visibility brands need versus the real-time capabilities their existing tools offer.
What this means for brands:
- Full Supply Chain Visibility: Visibility must be actionable and integrated across supply chain functions to prevent and recover from disruptions.
- Strong Tech Stack Integrations: Focus on implementing a strong operational tech stack with robust product capabilities that enable you to monitor inventory, supplier reliability, and logistics bottlenecks, like the below:
- Automated tracking and predictive analytics
- AI-driven forecasting
- Real-time reporting
Supplier diversification is the go-to cost optimization strategy
This year, global disruptions have already shined a light on the systemic risks of sole-sourcing — when one link in the chain breaks, the entire supply chain grinds to a halt.
According to the research, supplier diversification will be a boon for brands navigating economic and geopolitical volatility in 2025:
But what matters most to brands as they evaluate new suppliers? With trade restrictions and new production challenges, 78% of brands are aware they need to look beyond price and delivery times and give geolocation, transportation, and logistical considerations a significant influence on supplier selection this year.
To build resilience into their sourcing strategy, brands should:
- Identify potential new suppliers based on key criteria (e.g., geographical location, quality standards, pricing, production timelines, reputation, financial stability)
- Conduct thorough due diligence to ensure suppliers can meet long-term needs.
- Establish clear SLAs, centralize communication on a single platform or channel, and conduct quarterly QBRs with suppliers.
- Use supplier scorecards to monitor performance over time on key metrics like on-time delivery rates, responsiveness, lead time accuracy, and problem resolution time.
Brands rank supply chain visibility analytics and reporting as the #1 opportunity for their business in 2025
End-to-end visibility means connecting global supply chain teams with real-time data — but this year’s research shows that data is still a major roadblock to contend with.
The most pressing data challenges brands are planning to tackle this year?
Outdated reporting systems can lead supply chain decision-makers to take action on a fragmented analysis and miss chances to capitalize on new business opportunities or warn against potential issues.
Real-time supply chain insights, however, set up global teams to proactively identify trends, predict market shifts, and make sound decisions that keep the business growing
How brands can unlock better visibility with better data:
- Invest in AI-powered supply chain platforms for predictive analytics and automated workflows.
- Implement real-time tracking to optimize inventory and logistics.
- Use supplier performance data to make data-driven sourcing decisions.
- Integrate all supply chain data into a single system for better cross-functional collaboration
The most resilient brands will take action now. Sage Supply Chain Intelligence provides the technology to make it happen.
It’s clear from this year’s 2025 State of Supply Chain research that today’s consumer brands have too much at stake to settle for poor visibility, a narrow supplier base, or compromised data.
As brands face mounting pressure to stay profitable and agile, 2025 is shaping up to be a critical year for operational strategy — and a time to avoid being left behind.
Getting ahead starts with unlocking the full visibility of your supply chain data with Sage Supply Chain Intelligence, designed to help teams drive growth, efficiency, and resilience — no matter what the global trade landscape has in store.
About the survey
Conducted in February 2025, our survey encompassed a diverse range of more than 200 consumer brands in the retail and wholesale space, with annual revenues ranging from under $1 million to more than $500 million.
