Customer-Centric Logistics: How Personalisation, Visibility, and Innovation Are Transforming Customer Experience

PERSONALISATION, VISIBILITY, AND INNOVATION: SHAPING THE FUTURE OF CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

Innovation and customer experience are two sides of the same coin. Sometimes, business-led innovations give customers something they didn’t have before, which in turn raises expectations. Other times, customers demand something they don’t currently have, forcing businesses to act quickly to provide it. This creates a harmonious, continuous cycle.

In the logistics context, personalisation and visibility are key to customer experience, and thus, a great deal of innovation focuses on these two elements. As consumers, we all like to feel special, noticed, and listened to. Often, that personal touch makes the difference between a forgettable customer experience and a memorable one.

EVOLVING CUSTOMER EXPECTATIONS IN THE AGE OF E-COMMERCE

The massive growth in e-commerce means shoppers now expect the same level of personalisation from their online shopping experience as they do when they’re shopping in a store. This means customer service for the online shopper has to match, or even exceed, that of a physical store.

This shift has led to trends such as ‘buy many, keep one’, where online shoppers replicate the offline experience at home—for example, by buying several sizes of the same clothing item, trying them all on, and intending to return the ones that don’t fit. This means not only the original delivery experience, but also the returns experience, must meet high expectations.

Our job at UPS is to continue to listen to what our customers need so we can create new products and solutions that live up to current demands, anticipate future demands, and simplify the shipping process for everyone. The aim is to put total control in the hands of our customers and their customers.

UPS DRIVING PERSONALISATION THROUGH VISIBILITY AND INNOVATION

At the heart of a personalised online shopping experience is visibility; the two tend to go hand in hand. Online shopping is exciting—for a lot of people, as soon as they’ve clicked ‘buy’, they’re checking the tracking info in anticipation of when their package will arrive.

Being able to track deliveries every step of the way is useful from both the B2B and B2C perspective.

• For Businesses (B2B): Services such as UPS Supply Chain Symphony allow businesses to integrate various supply chain components, including shipping, warehousing, and inventory management, into a single platform. This unified approach empowers UPS customers to track in- and outbound orders, easily monitor inventory levels, predict potential problems, and make strategic decisions to improve operations. This translates into fewer unforeseen errors, faster recovery from unexpected issues, and ultimately, better customer satisfaction.
• For End Consumers (B2C): We understand that no matter how excited you are about receiving your delivery, sometimes plans can change—you get stuck at the office, you want to go out with friends, or you need to take your dog to the vet. With a service like UPS My Choice, recipients can make changes to information such as the delivery address or location, or give the delivery person specific instructions on where to leave a parcel.

These are both examples of innovation spurring personalisation and visibility, and they demonstrate how intrinsically linked the three concepts are.

UPS LEVERAGING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY TO ENHANCE CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE

The priority boils down to customer experience: stopping problems before they start and making the shipping experience easier for our customers and theirs.

For example, one of the main reasons international shoppers abandon their carts is to avoid paying duties and taxes upon delivery. And one of the main causes of customer dissatisfaction is when they’re looking forward to receiving their package only to be faced with an unexpected extra charge before they can actually have it. Anybody who’s gone through this will testify it’s a truly bad customer experience.

As mentioned before, online retailers need to match the offline shopping experience. When you’re buying something in a physical store, you know exactly how much you’re paying there and then. So why should it be any different when you’re shopping online?

To solve this, in March 2025, UPS launched Global Checkout, a service which shows online shoppers the total cost – including duties, fees, and taxes – before completing their purchase. We are the only global integrated carrier to guarantee the total landed cost at the point of purchase, with no unexpected costs at delivery. Global Checkout provides accurate HS codes using a state-of-the-art proprietary AI system that has been trained with billions of data tokens and millions of classified goods examples. It uses advanced algorithms and statistical models to constantly learn, improve over time, and adjust to policy changes, international tax laws, duties, and tariffs in near real time.

RESILIENCE AS A BUSINESS IMPERATIVE IN GLOBAL TRADE

One of the many lessons learned from the pandemic is that building a resilient supply chain is no longer optional—it’s a must for any business that wants to survive. While the need was urgent pre-COVID, the pandemic certainly brought things into sharper focus.

The landscape of global trade is always evolving, so businesses must constantly adjust to capture new opportunities and protect against costly disruptions. UPS recently worked with The National Center for Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (NCAPEC) on a report that examines the state of supply chains within APEC countries. That report shows that an optimised supply chain is a resilient supply chain, and a resilient supply chain is one that can easily adapt, rebound, or recover when faced with the kind of shocks we’ve experienced over the last few years.

Worryingly, it seems most companies have yet to fully realise this. Our research shows that in key areas of diversifying products, suppliers, customers, and transportation options, up to 89% of businesses in Asia Pacific are still not resilient.

According to the report, the resilience of a supply chain can be measured across five key dimensions:

• Flexibility: The ability to quickly switch between products, suppliers, customers, trade routes, and distribution channels when the need arises.
• Visibility: Clear sight over every stage of a business’s operations to allow for better decision-making and more effective responses to disruption.
• Connectivity: Smooth and stable connections across all stages of production and transportation.
• Robustness: Using digital technology to enhance operational efficiency and adapt to disruption.
• Redundancy: Ensuring sufficient inventory, capacity, and a financial buffer in case of the need to move from plan A to plan B.

CONCLUSION

The logistics landscape is always evolving, and these are all areas where UPS can help businesses strengthen. Customer expectations change, and supply chains need to be kept up to date. Therefore, businesses must keep adjusting if they want to remain competitive in the long term.

UPS is here to help. We’ve been working with businesses in Asia across the last five decades to optimise supply chains and solve our customers’ problems. Uncertainty always comes with opportunity, and now is the time to act.