Prozo’s Year-End Outlook Flags Shift from Scale to Operational Precision in India’s Supply Chains

MUMBAI: India’s rapidly evolving consumption landscape is placing unprecedented pressure on logistics and fulfilment networks, according to year-end reflections shared on behalf of Dr. Ashvini Jakhar, Founder & CEO of Prozo. The insights highlight how 2025 marked a decisive shift from predictable growth patterns to highly volatile, real-time demand environments—forcing companies to rethink how scale and resilience are built.

Reviewing the year gone by, Prozo noted that India’s consumption engine expanded far faster than the operational infrastructure supporting it. Traditional demand cycles, once defined by monthly predictability, gave way to daily and even hourly fluctuations across categories. This structural shift exposed the limitations of linear, capacity-led expansion models. Organisations that sustained performance, the company observed, were those that invested early in network flexibility, sharper forecasting accuracy, and tighter SKU-level control rather than relying solely on footprint expansion.

Another defining trend of 2025 was the evolution of hyperlocal delivery from a marketplace-led feature into a brand-owned capability. Several large brands began testing express fulfilment directly from their own nodes, signalling a long-term move toward owning the last-mile customer experience. At the same time, omni-channel complexity intensified as offline, online, and quick-commerce channels increasingly drew from the same inventory pool. Leadership discussions across the sector, Prozo observed, centred on how to run unified operations without compromising reliability—underscoring that scale is now driven by operational discipline rather than physical size.

Looking ahead to 2026, Prozo expects the focus to shift from operational awareness to operational precision. Shorter planning horizons, tighter replenishment cycles, and growing reliance on real-time visibility will compel companies to reassess the accuracy of their demand engines and the responsiveness of their fulfilment networks. The maturation of omni-channel fulfilment will be a critical inflection point, with brands moving away from siloed store, marketplace, and D2C operations toward infrastructure capable of routing and prioritising orders from a single, unified inventory pool.

The outlook also points to a recalibration of quick-commerce. While growth is expected to continue, long-term sustainability will depend on how effectively hyperlocal nodes are integrated into broader supply chains rather than operated as isolated assets. Capacity planning, Prozo cautioned, will require greater discipline, as volatile demand can no longer be addressed through rapid additions of warehousing space alone. With service expectations rising and tolerance for inefficiency declining, companies will be pushed to examine cost-to-serve metrics at a much deeper level.

According to Prozo, organisations that succeed in 2026 will be those that build precision-led operations—systems and processes capable of remaining stable and reliable even as volumes surge—marking a decisive shift in how supply-chain competitiveness is defined in India.