Digital Technologies for Integrated Supplier–Buyer Communication in Collaborative Logistics and Transportation: A Systematic Literature Review

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Abstract
Digital technology has revolutionized the communication between suppliers and buyers in logistics and transportation. Previous studies focused on individual technolo-gies and their benefits but have not sufficiently explored how these technologies interact together as a communication interface, and what specific data they exchange. The review conducts a systematic literature analysis of 51 peer reviewed papers (2016-2026), screened from 711 records from Scopus and Web of Sciences. The paper provides three contributions, first it identifies digital communication mechanism that enables supplier buyer coordination with documented outcomes from in-cluding reducing freight negotiations from weeks to hours and warehouse waiting time by 80%. Second the review consolidates exchange data parameters into the Digital Logistics Communication Architecture (DLCA), a four-layer taxonomy offering empirically grounded data specification. Moreover, third it finds that digital communication contrib-utes to sustainability primarily through environmental and economic outcomes, with so-cial outcomes remaining underrepresented. The most significant finding is structural; across most 51 peer reviewed papers it is observed that each digital communication system depends on human initiation. Building on this structural gap, the study proposes agentic AI as a Tier 5 extension of the DLCA framework, positioned as the technology most capable of overcoming human-initiation dependence. A future research agenda is outlined.

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