Scott at 3663, who is part of the wider business management team at 3663, said the organization is looking at the shared warehouse and trucks options. "We are already back-hauling, if a vehicle is returning from a customer we look for an opportunity to fill it up from a supplier on route," she says. Amsterdam has already experimented with a collaborative approach to supply chain with shared warehouses on the outskirts of the historic city stocking goods, which were then transported into the center of the city by special cargo trams, before the goods were transferred to electric delivery vehicles for the final leg of the journey. Madden points out that for many goods and types of retailers there is no competitive advantage in having separate warehouses, for example a group of major book publishers share a warehouse in Amsterdam.

Closer to home, Nigel Underwood, recently told CIO he and his team were spearheading collaboration in partnership with a DHL global consultancy that is looking to drive collaboration. The pro-collaborative attitude at DHL has, in part helped it win contracts with Starbucks, Jaguar and Land Rover recently.

Madden also believes the current upwards trend of online shopping and home delivery will change the supply chain radically. Deliveries after 7pm will increase and she even predicts that secure delivery points where a consumer can collect something if they are not at home, these could be Post Offices or local storage points.

Already companies such as Ocado fulfill their customer orders direct from a warehouse, taking the shop out of the supply chain. In Sweden Madden said she has observed the white goods industry embrace post 7pm deliveries so that it can ensure that the customer is at home to receive their goods.

Technical demands