How do retailers procure goods in markets where the transportation infrastructure has developed around export rather than distribution? Though dependent on a variety of macroeconomic and geopolitical factors, the evolution of low-cost sourcing/manufacturing countries is more or less the same: Over time, these countries develop a rising middle class, inflating the price of labor and overhead. While this growth in wealth chips away at the cost advantages of production, it simultaneously creates viable consumer markets. As countries move from “we make it” to “we buy it,” manufacturers search for new locations to manufacture while retailers tap the new consumer markets. Written by Tim Foster, Chainalytics. Asia’sShift From Production To Consumption
