Today I had a great conversation with a friend who owns a logistics company. His fleet of trucks delivers goods to individual consumers and businesses in Georgia. He shared his pandemic experiences with me. As others were hunkering down, his team was steadily making deliveries. He hasn’t felt the pain other entrepreneurs have. In fact, he’s thinking about expanding his business into more offerings and has a long-term vision for a large logistics firm.

As I listened, I thought about the big impact logistics has on our everyday lives. How is the food we eat delivered to restaurants and grocers? How do our medicines make their way to pharmacies? How does fuel get delivered to gas stations?

Because of the pandemic, I now receive a steady stream of deliveries. I asked my friend about consumer deliveries. He said this is an area that has changed and will continue to change. Consumers are having more things delivered, and he and his team are still learning how to grow that part of his business efficiently. He wishes there were more tools to help a smaller operator like himself better manage consumer deliveries.

Logistics isn’t sexy and it can be complex. But it’s an essential component of serving many large markets. Consumer deliveries will continue to expand rapidly. For people with knowledge and experience in this space, I foresee opportunities to build large businesses that provide tools to support the ability of smaller logistics companies to operate efficiently or help smaller companies whose core business isn’t logistics manage their logistics.