10 Key Challenges Every VP of Logistics Faces—and How to Overcome Them

As a VP of logistics, you know better than anyone how challenging and unpredictable the world of logistics is. You spend your days building smart distribution plans, maintaining timelines, and keeping shipping costs under control. But, in the very next moment, a shipment gets stuck in transit, a supplier misses the deadline out of nowhere, or a sudden order surge for a particular item flips your entire plan. 

That’s the reality. In logistics, no matter how solid the plan is, the unpredictability is constant, and roadblocks are endless. Despite these, you’re expected to deliver consistency throughout the process and make it seamless. 

After working closely with logistics leaders across various industries, including D2C fashion, we’ve noticed a repetitive set of challenges that keep coming back. That’s why it’s always important to call out the challenges upfront. While you can’t eliminate them entirely, knowing them upfront and keeping relevant solutions in place can save you in the long run. 

Here Are the Top 10 Challenges Every VP of Logistics Faces: 

Let’s look at the common challenges faced by VPs of logistics along with some actionable solutions.

1. Managing Returns (and RTOs)

RTOs (return to origin) are stealthy financial boomerangs. Brands put in efforts designing the items, stocking, and shipping, yet they circle back unexpectedly. As a head of logistics, you become responsible for both the outbound shipping and the return trip, which significantly shakes your profit margin. Alongside that, it adds other challenges like blocked inventory, operational overload, product depreciation, and brand experience risk. 

RTO is just one part of the story. Returns (even when initiated by the customers) come with their own sets of complexities and costs. Managing the entire reverse logistics process, including inspection, restocking, and refunds, is another set of hassles. And this is not just a one-off process—this is a constant journey. 

Especially for the VP of logistics in the fashion industry, it never stops, as fashion e-commerce (especially clothing) faces the highest return rate (40%) in comparison to other sectors. What is even more concerning? In 2024 alone, e-commerce returns cost U.S. retailers a staggering $890 billion, making it one of the costliest challenges in supply chain management. 

2. Maintaining On-Time Delivery

In e-commerce, on-time delivery is more important than speed. The eCommerce customers (especially in the fashion industry) aren’t just buying another bag or another pair of heels; they are buying for an occasion, an event, or maybe to surprise their loved ones. So, today’s customers just don’t want their product fast; they want it on time. Around 77% of U.S. customers consider convenience a key factor that directly impacts their buying decision, and they are even ready to pay more. 

As a VP, maintaining customers’ demand for on-time delivery becomes a real challenge. You might have a perfect SLA with carriers, but there is no guarantee of consistency. Sudden order surges, stockouts, and last-mile complexities can make the entire process even more intense, making the time slip through your fingers. 

3. Inventory Management and Stock Visibility

To put it honestly, inventory management is not just overseeing a set of data on a dashboard. According to the recent scenario, it’s like staying a step ahead in terms of demand forecasting, fulfillment accuracy, and supply chain agility. Especially in fashion, where trends change every day and customers’ demands change even faster, inventory management becomes a real task. 

You will find yourself tackling challenges such as high SKU complexity, frequent inventory turnover, lack of visibility across various channels, and more. Alongside hampering your cash flow, inefficiencies in inventory management also erode customer loyalty because 69% of online shoppers abandon their purchases and switch to another brand if they find their preferred item out of stock. 

4. Optimizing the Last-Mile Delivery

Since last-mile delivery is the touchpoint where brands directly deal with customers, it’s one of the most intense and trickiest stages of logistics. And for VPs, it’s the most challenging part. Everything might have gone smoothly—the order has been successfully processed and reached the last distribution hub, but things can go haywire at the very last moment. 

Problems like delivery delays, traffic congestion in metro cities, issues in hyperlocal fulfillment and customer coordination, and delivery exceptions are dangerous. They can seriously eat up your profit margin and negatively impact customer satisfaction.

5. Scaling Across Multiple Channels and Locations

As a logistics head, managing omnichannel fulfillment while scaling it feels like juggling multiple balls. Every channel, including the D2C website, marketplace, social platforms, and offline stores, has its own fulfillment requirements. 

Inventory sync and order orchestration across platforms, managing reverse logistics across channels, and handling different SLAs are no less than a nightmare. At the same time, if you are targeting a new geographical area, it adds another layer of complexity in terms of logistics requirements. 

6. Sustainability in Logistics

Do you know that around 66% of customers consider sustainability a key point while making a purchase, and 60% of shoppers are very eager about green logistics? These statistics clearly show that sustainability in logistics is no longer a fancy term; rather, it’s a real concern that can make or break a customer relationship. 

However, the problem lies in how you’ll implement sustainability, considering roadblocks like higher upfront costs, limited infrastructure in many regions, 3PL partner alignment, speed, and so on. Especially when 88% of Gen Z don’t believe in brands’ sustainability promises, the challenges become even bigger. 

7. Handling High-Volume Seasonal Demand

During festive seasons like Christmas, Diwali, and Black Friday, brands experience significant order spikes—sometimes even 3x and 10x the usual load. For others, it’s just about shipping more boxes, but as a head of the supply chain, it’s managing 360-degree operations with extra pressures, and that too within tighter deadlines. 

Forecasting demands, handling carriers, scaling warehouse operations and labor, syncing inventory, and managing sudden spikes in returns can keep you awake at night. Add customer expectations to this list, and this situation becomes even more challenging. 

8. Customer Experience & Post-Purchase Engagement

For the VPs of logistics, the duty goes beyond just sending an item out to the customer. You are also in charge of maintaining customers’ experience and providing them with an unforgettable post-purchase experience. No doubt, it’s an extremely challenging task. 

Something as subtle as a delay in customer notification or a confusing return can negatively impact customer satisfaction and brand relationship, especially when 80% of customers consider the post-purchase experience to be one of the most crucial factors.  

9. Dealing with Multiple Carrier Integrations

When you are dealing with 10 orders a day, a single carrier might fulfill your requirement. But as your business grows and you start handling 1000 orders each day, a single carrier won’t suffice. You need to rely on multiple carriers to ensure each order reaches its destination without discrepancies. Again, it comes with its own set of challenges. 

Processing shipments across carriers, managing SLAs, and, most importantly, getting on-time visibility of shipments across multiple carriers are all hectic tasks. You will find yourself chasing carriers and switching between multiple dashboards, which can slow down the journey. 

10. Technology Integration and Data Management

As your business grows, you rely on multiple systems, such as OMS, WMS, TMS, communication gateways, payment gateways, etc. Any small changes or data silos along the way can lead to disrupted workflow and logistical hiccups. 

How will you ensure these systems work in sync with each other? More importantly, how will you ensure real-time data flows across platforms so each member of the team has the same data and information? That is undoubtedly one of the biggest challenges. 

Conclusion 

In a perfect world, logistics would come with no challenges. In reality, it’s a process that is full of roadblocks and challenges. But when managed right, these challenges can be your stepping stones towards logistics success. They will turn you into a more innovative leader, as the old proverb says, “Smooth seas never made skilled sailors.” With the right tool in your tech stack, you can easily tackle these challenges and stay a step ahead. So, ready to optimize your logistics operations and improve post-purchase experiences? Book a demo with ClickPost today and take your delivery processes to the next level!