The results are in and there’s a lot packed into the 2025 29th Annual 3PL Study. The research report, entitled “Navigating Change: Insights Into Evolving Dynamics in Supply Chain,” once again underscores the key supply chain and logistics issues facing shippers and their 3PL partners today as represented by several hundred shippers and 3PLs surveyed globally.
Survey respondents included shippers and 3PL executives worldwide though they were primarily concentrated in the U.S. and Canada, representing industries such as retail, food and beverage, manufacturing, CPG, and automotive, among other sectors. The in-depth 3PL Study is created annually by supply chain professor and researcher Dr. C. John Langley, Penske Logistics, and NTT Data.
Here’s a look at four key takeaways from the 2025 29th Annual 3PL Study:
- Change Management
In recent years, supply chain professionals have been grappling with unprecedented changes— supply chain disruptions, geopolitical forces and advances in technology, to name a few. It’s probably no surprise that the majority of shippers and 3PLs in the 2025 3PL Study cited the need of supply chain change management as critical or significant.
3PLs and shippers said customer demands, economic factors and the acceleration of technology are the top drivers which are inspiring the biggest changes at their organizations. Both groups also identified supply chain visibility, technologies— think moves to digital supply chains and AI — and the managing of their supplier or customers relationships as the top areas in need of changes.
Yet both shippers and 3PLs suggested their organizations aren’t necessarily open to changes. Only about one-fourth of shippers and 3PLs reported they are extremely receptive to change. For the most part, both groups suggested they have room for improvement on how they actually communicate and implement changes. Most try to manage change the most through in-house propriety systems or processes rather than outside formal frameworks.
2. Artificial Intelligence (AI)
AI and the use of data in the supply chain is justifiably a hot topic and respondents in the 2025 3PL Study had opinions on the best ways to leverage AI. Over one-third of shippers and 3PLs said they see AI as a tool for automation of repetitive, mundane tasks in order to free up workers for more complex work. And many agreed AI won’t fully replace human capital and that supply chain talent will remain essential.
Nearly one-half view of shippers and 3PLs agree that AI helps to automate data analysis to spot patterns or solve problems. But only a small group said AI will replace human intuition in decision-making.
The survey reflected alignment among 3PLs and shippers for top AI use cases. Two big uses are supply and demand forecasting as well as transportation and route optimization. Also, use of AI in order management also ranked high for both groups while 3PLs see a slightly higher use case for AI in warehouse automation.
3PLs expect to gain the most ROI from AI will come from data accuracy, service-level improvement, and to a lesser extent, control tower visibility. Similarly, shippers expected the greatest ROI from service-level improvement, data accuracy and labor savings.
Are 3PLs and their shipper customers on the same page when it comes to AI implementations? Somewhat. Over one-fourth of shippers cited a need for AI-powered transportation and route optimization technologies while about one-fifth of 3PLs say they are planning to implement these capabilities. And about one-third of shippers reported seeking implementations involving supply planning and demand forecasting. But less than 20 percent of 3PLs said they were planning AI-powered implementations in this area.
Barriers to adopt AI are prevalent. For 3PLs, these include integration with existing systems, a lack of skilled personnel and high initial investment costs.
3. Direct-to-Consumer (D2C) and E-commerce
D2C e-commerce continues to grow while sales channels like social media are also expanding. And B2B e-commerce is also growing. Customers have come to expect a speedy, reliable and seamless customer experience. The burden to create these experiences falls the most on 3PLs, who also bear the greatest challenges from e-commerce according to the study. Both 3PLs and shippers agreed that delivery speed and increased delivery visibility to their customers as their greatest areas of differentiation.
Speed is the operative word when it comes to the challenges of e-commerce with both 3PLs and their shipper retailer, brand and manufacturer counterparts. About one-half of shippers and 3PLs surveyed said that consumers have high expectations for delivery periods of less than two days. Likewise about one-fourth of each group said consumers today expect two-to-three day delivery.
But who pays for that higher cost? Although fast delivery is a priority, about 30 percent of shippers and 3PLs reported they are not willing to absorb any costs related to shipping speeds, and most are willing to absorb a small percentage of shipping costs for speedy deliveries. Only a small portion of each group would be willing to absorb significant costs.
Both 3PLs and shippers are on the same page when it comes to customer promise priorities. Both want to reduce environmental impact of their supply chains, including reduction of packing materials. Within sustainability, 3PLs also noted use of recycled materials in packaging is a key priority. Plus, another top priority for shippers when it comes to the customer promise is providing transparency into where products are sourced.
4. Nearshoring
The great supply chain disruptions triggered by the global pandemic put the spotlight on nearshoring (moving sources of supply and production closer to home markets) and some companies have made moves or are in process. Now the tariff increases, announced by the new administration and still in flux in second quarter of 2025, have put the concept of nearshoring back in the spotlight for some shippers and 3PLs.
As we reported in late 2024 on the proposed tariffs by the new administration, some companies with U.S. operations are exploring alternative sourcing options such as nearshoring, establishing regional production hubs or forming new supplier relationships closer to home. But while nearshoring helps mitigate risk and streamline supply chains, the cost and long timelines (often years in the making) of moving production closer to home, among many other factors, make establishing plants and facilities impractical for many manufacturers and shippers.
Nevertheless the location of production and suppliers can make a difference. About three-quarters of shippers and 3PLs participating in the 2025 3PL Study said they are considering adjusting their supplier mix to be more local or domestic. And in the year prior (in the 2024 3PL Study), about 80 percent of shippers reported rebalancing their production locations in order to move toward more regional or domestic production networks.
The top three supply chain functions that are most critical to nearshore? Both shippers and 3PLs in this year’s study reported distribution as the top function to nearshore. Manufacturing and transportation functions were also top functions to keep close to home shores.