Global forwarders fail to meet on-line business needs

As more and more businessto- business (B2B) sales are conducted on-line, the forwarding industry is failing to respond to the needs of this cyber environment. That’s the finding of a survey conducted by Hong Kong-based freight-rate management software provider, Freightos, which found most freight forwarders were missing sales opportunities by failing to respond in a timely and userfriendly way to customers’ online quotation requests. According to Freightos, shippers and procurement officers are “increasingly likely to buy both goods and services online” – with online business-to-business (B2B) sales predicted to reach the equivalent of almost R87 trillion by 2020, around 27% of global manufacturing trade. At present, 40% of business-to-customer (B2C) commerce is now crossborder, and B2B is catching up fast. Also, 68% of B2B buyers with budgets of more than R1 million buy online, up a full 10% from 2013. To test the forwarding industry’s operational readiness, Freightos studied the rate-quoting speed and responsiveness of the world’s Top 20 forwarders. It found to its dismay that leading forwarders’ average process time for online quotes was 90 hours; it took three clicks on average to get to the online request form on leading forwarders’ sites; and 45% of shippers were discontented with their forwarder’s information technology (IT) capabilities. In terms of the quote itself, the results were disappointing. Only 45% of forwarders ultimately provided a quote, and only five companies followed up the quotes in an attempt to secure the business. The forwarders’ responsiveness was also poor. Of the 16 forwarders from whom quotes were requested, 75% did not automatically confirm receiving the request, and three of them did not respond to the initial request at all. The fastest personal confirmation of a request received took seven hours; one forwarder insisted that quotes would only be provided after an in-person meeting; and five required multiple conversations to clarify details, revealing a lack of sufficient information requested of the buyer in the initial quote form. Freightos also noted that none of the forwarders provided instant online pricing for international freight sales; 20% of the top 20 forwarders had neither an online quote form nor a “contact us” form available on their website to attract new business; and only 30% of the forwarders’ homepages had a dedicated ‘call to action’ geared towards landing new shippers’ business. Freightos CEO Zvi Schreiber found that the industry was aware of the incredible potential for online sales, but most provided what he termed “a subpar online customer experience”, with slow, manual freight pricing and quoting. Just how user-friendly, responsive and timely have you found forwarders to be when you have requested quotes on-line? If you have something to say on this matter, send an email to joyo@nowmedia.co.za Good or not so good, that is the question. INSERT 20% Percentage of Top 20 who have no online quote form.