From Planning to Retail: Where Supply Chain Is Headed AI, tariffs, shifting consumer expectations, and new delivery models are creating fresh challenges and opportunities for supply chain leaders. In this episode of Supply Chain Now, Scott Luton and Jake Barr sit down with Gartner’s Noha Samara to bust some of the biggest myths surrounding AI in supply chain planning. Then, Scott talks with Wall Street Journal reporter Liz Young about the forces reshaping retail and logistics, from product assortment and tariffs to trucking, last-mile delivery, drones, and returns. Noha challenges the idea that AI success is simply about doing the same work faster, emphasizing instead the need to redesign jobs, rethink processes, build trust with planners, and focus AI investments on a smaller number of high-impact use cases. She also explains why productivity gains should be measured by the higher-value work AI enables, not simply by workforce reduction. Later, Liz brings a reporter’s perspective to the rapidly changing retail supply chain. She shares how companies are reducing product variety to manage tariffs and complexity, building greater flexibility and resilience into their networks, and navigating increasingly diverse consumer expectations around delivery. The conversation also explores rising trucking costs, the potential of…

The Buzz is Supply Chain Now’s regular Monday livestream, held at 12 noon ET each week. This show focuses on some of the leading stories from global supply chain and global business, always with special guests – the most important of which is the live audience! In this week’s episode of The Buzz, hosts Mary Kate Love and Katherine Hintz bring you the second marketing edition of The Buzz! Together they tackle top news by discussing: The uptick in influencer and celebrity marketing The impact of Amazon Prime Day on consumer shopping habits and supply chain, noting the potential strain on delivery and reverse logistics due to increased purchases and returns Costco’s decision to increase its membership fee due to inflation and rising supply chain costs, while maintaining a high customer retention rate The importance of customer experience for customer retention And so much more!