The First Mile of Logistics with Rob Garrison of Mercado Labs

On this week’s episode of The Future of Supply Chain, Santosh chats with Rob Garrison, founder, and CEO of Mercado Labs. Mercado’s import management system connects importers with suppliers, partners, and products, connects product with demand, and connects team members together. Using a SaaS platform, Mercado looks to transform the first mile of logistics, a complex part of the supply chain that still relies heavily on spreadsheets and emails.

Highlights from their conversation include:

• An introduction to what Mercado Labs is working on and who Rob is (1:14)
• Rob’s take on the current state of imports (6:21)
• Why Rob thinks things will normalize by the end of April (9:55)
• Data’s role in dealing with uncertainty (13:43)
• Benefits of having an import management system in place (16:14)
• Plan, buy, move workflows (21:38)
• Contrasting first mile and final mile (25:00)
• PSP: people, service, profits (31:13)

Mercado Labs, based in Dallas, Texas, transforms supply chains with its import management system by connecting products, suppliers, and teams with customer demand. Find out more at https://mercadolabs.com/why-mercado/

About The Future of Supply Chain:

During each episode of The Future of Supply Chain, we sit down with a different entrepreneur, investor, or industry veteran to discuss their story, views on the industry, and how we can collectively build the future of supply chain together.