Driving Growth Through Digital Innovation

Produced by (E) BrandConnect

Golf is one of the world’s truly global sports, with courses spread across 209 of the world’s 249 countries. In the sport’s two biggest markets, the US and Europe, golf drives more than $200bn in economic output per year. The game’s global diffusion mirrors the growing opportunities for companies of all sizes to access developing markets around the world. No longer relegated to entering foreign markets by shops alone, businesses can now sell direct to consumers through digital platforms and websites. This revolution has been underpinned by change in the speed, quality and operational transparency of the logistics industry.

Efficiency

To build a solid reputation in a foreign market, companies need to be sure that customers receive their items quickly and are kept abreast of any issues that arise. We drive this efficiency by harnessing the availability and analysis of data at every point of a purchased item’s journey. For example, when containers full of golf merchandise arrive for shipping, our High Bay stacking system crunches the cargo data to determine which items need unloading first. This information is then fed directly into a robotic stacker that arranges the containers 11-high, saving space while allowing operators to access a container at any time. As a global team, combining new technologies to address specific challenges allows us to support companies’ global ambitions by providing them with efficient cross-border solutions.

Precision

We say innovation is in our DNA. We’ve used data to enter spaces that no other industry players would venture into. It’s about getting our customers’ products to market through reliability; speed and cost. Giving businesses real-time information about where their items are in the delivery process allows them to develop innovative new delivery options. For example, if you are an apparel marketer in the UK and you have a customer in Japan, your customer will want to know when they can have their goods at the agreed-upon price. Our digital solutions allow you to better communicate delivery options to your customer: If you pay X, you can have it in 10 days: if you pay Y, you could have it in 5 days; if you pay Z, you can have it in 3 days. This transparency makes operating a global supply chain feasible for a company of any size. As magnetic trains and drones make journey times shorter, package-tracking will help customers organise their diaries to accommodate a same-day or even same-hour delivery. Our investment in data-tracking and analytics gives our business partners a head start in developing the services that will define the future of global retail.

Globalisation

The greatest advantage by far is our ability to help open up new markets for our customers, especially in promising economies such as Africa and South America where we are currently making investments. For businesses, this has the potential to widen market boundaries. Our role is to show our customers the possibilities of new markets and allow them to develop that possibility. This is one of the reasons why golf is such a great platform for DP World to invest in—it’s a sport that creates its own economic ecosystem as it expands into new territories. At DP World, we can then support the businesses that are connected with golf, or any other sport for that matter, with innovative and creative logistics solutions. For our customers and partners, we believe that the future is as open, exciting and inviting as a well-maintained golf course.

Produced by (E) BrandConnect, a commercial division of The Economist Group, which operates separately from the editorial staffs of The Economist and The Economist Intelligence Unit. Neither (E) BrandConnect nor its affiliates accept any responsibility or liability for reliance by any party on this content.