SMBs face growing supply chain complexity, Netstock report says

Small and medium-sized businesses are managing multiple supply chain challenges simultaneously as supplier volatility, shifting demand, freight costs and inventory performance pressures converge, according to Netstock’s 2026 Benchmark Report: The State of Supply Chain Planning.

The report, based on anonymized data from more than 2,500 Netstock customers worldwide, found there is no longer a single dominant disruption affecting inventory planning. Supplier lead-time variability was identified as the top challenge by 29 per cent of respondents, followed by raw material costs at 23 per cent, freight and shipping costs at 22 per cent and demand shifts at 21 per cent.

“Supply chain planning has become significantly more dynamic over the past year,” said Ara Ohanian, chief executive officer of Netstock.

“Businesses are no longer preparing for a single disruption. They’re balancing several challenges at once, each with the potential to affect inventory, suppliers and customer demand.”

The report found inventory performance continued to improve, with businesses turning inventory four times per year on average, the highest level in three years. Top-performing companies averaged nearly eight inventory turns annually. However, the share of businesses reporting more than 10 per cent of inventory as dead stock has doubled since 2024.

Netstock also reported increased adoption of artificial intelligence. The proportion of businesses that do not use AI or do not understand how it works has roughly halved since 2024, while concerns about data integrity and security have become the leading AI-related challenge. Thirty-nine per cent of respondents cited data integrity and security as their top concern in 2026, up from 23 per cent in 2024.

“What stands out this year isn’t a single trend. It’s how businesses are responding to an environment where multiple variables are changing at the same time,” said Jefferson Barr, chief marketing officer at Netstock.

“The strongest organizations aren’t chasing perfect inventory metrics. They’re improving visibility, making faster planning decisions and adapting as new challenges emerge.”