08 Sep. 2020, By Fretigo
DIGITAL DISRUPTION IN FREIGHT INDUSTRY - A THREAT TO TRADITIONAL FORWARDER
Digital Freight Forwarders like freighthub, flexport or fretigo founded in the last five years. They have cumulated millions of dollars in funding and built fancy technological platforms to acquire beneficial cargo owners. Why? Because venture capitalists and entrepreneurs find the global freight market interesting!
Why do digital freight forwarders exist?
New players enter the freight market by developing innovative business models that will improve customer experience and operational inefficiencies. Did you know that it can take up to 100 hours to finally get a price quote for your cargo? That’s how long it takes most freight forwarders to fill out and check shipping documents within several interactions via email. Would you wait one week for a quote if you could get it in seconds? Lackluster customer experience and manual processes are two entry points for new competitors nowadays. They automate back-office and operations to save costs of approx. 40% through digitalization.
How do digital freight forwarders leverage technology?
According to the Boston Consulting Group, there are seven ways digital freight forwarders uses technology to increase customer experience and make business operations more efficient. With higher customer satisfaction, lower unit costs and greater profitability that’s how digital freight forwarders plan to increase market share looks like:
Instant price quotation
Seamless end-to-end documentation handling
Shipment tracking
Automated invoicing through integrated financial systems
Enhanced forecasting through big data and analytics
Automated shipping process
Real time data & documents access through cloud storage