REPOST: 5 Trends Shaping Logistics with Ben Gordon The Logistics of Logistics

5 Trends Shaping Logistics with Ben Gordon Ben Gordon and Joe Lynch discuss 5 trends shaping logistics and supply chain. In the interview, Ben reviews and discussed trends and interesting companies in ecommerce, final mile, cold chain, reverse logistics, and fulfillment.
About Ben Gordon Benjamin Gordon is the Founder and Managing Partner of Cambridge Capital. He draws on a career building, advising, and investing in supply chain companies. Benjamin has led investments in outstanding firms including XPO, Grand Junction, Bringg, Liftit, and others. As CEO of BGSA Holdings, Benjamin has spent his career investing in and helping to build supply chain and technology companies. Benjamin led the firm’s efforts, advising on over $1 billion worth of supply chain transactions. Benjamin has worked with firms such as UPS, DHL, Kuehne & Nagel, Agility Logistics, NFI Logistics, GENCO, Nations Express, Raytrans, Echo Global, Dixie, Wilpak, and others. Prior to BGSA Holdings, Ben founded 3PLex, the Internet solution enabling third-party logistics companies to automate their business. Benjamin raised $28 million from blue-chip investors including Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, BancBoston Ventures, CNF, and Ionian. 3PLex was then purchased by Maersk. Prior to 3PLex, Benjamin advised transportation and logistics clients at Mercer Management Consulting. Prior to Mercer, Benjamin worked in his family’s transportation business, AMI, where he helped the company expand its logistics operations. Benjamin received a Master’s in Business Administration from Harvard Business School and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Yale College.
About Cambridge Capital Cambridge Capital is a private equity firm investing in the applied supply chain. The firm provides private equity to finance the expansion, recapitalization or acquisition of growth companies in our sectors. Our philosophy is to invest in companies where our operating expertise and in-depth supply chain knowledge can help our portfolio companies achieve outstanding value. Cambridge Capital was founded in 2009 as the investment affiliate of BG Strategic Advisors (www.bgsa.com), the advisor of choice for a large, growing number of supply chain CEOs. Cambridge Capital leverages BGSA’s unique approach to strategy-led investment banking for the supply chain. BGSA is known for its work helping companies achieve outsized returns via targeted acquisitions and premium sales processes, and has worked with category leaders such as UPS, DHL, Agility Logistics, New Breed, NFI, Genco, Nations Express, Raytrans, and others. Our relationship with BGSA gives us deep market expertise, access to outstanding deal flow and people flow, transactional capabilities, additional resources, and a powerful core competency in the supply chain sector. The Partners and Advisory Board members of Cambridge Capital have diverse backgrounds with complementary technical, operating and financial expertise. The Cambridge Capital team has spent their careers building, growing, and advising outstanding companies in the supply chain sector. They include former leaders of UPS Logistics, Ryder Logistics, ATC Logistics, APL Logistics, Kuehne + Nagel, and other globally recognized firms. Cambridge Capital’s professionals know what it takes to build great companies.
Key Takeaways: 5 Trends Shaping Logistics with Ben Gordon In the podcast, Ben reviewed the following 5 trends shaping logistics:
 Ecommerce Ecommerce has not only reshaped logistics, but it is also has reshaped the entire economy. According to McKinsey, 10 years of e-commerce adoption was compressed into three months. Because of explosive growth of ecommerce, small parcel companies, UPS, FedEx and DHL experienced exceptional growth. The U.S. Postal Service and Amazon have also seen huge growth in shipments due to the growth of ecommerce. Returns and reverse logistics Traditional retailers experience 6-8% of sales to be returned. Ecommerce sellers have retur