Businesses in all industries, but especially in the freight and transportation industries, are striving harder than ever to become a “shipper-of-choice” or “preferred-shippers”. The same concept applies to carriers and logistics services providers “carrier-of-choice” or “preferred-transportation providers”.
As technologies have grown more advanced, empowering a new age of the digital supply chain, it is easier than ever for shippers and carriers to achieve this distinguished status. When a company is seen as more “preferred” they are often more likely to be on another entity’s go-to list of preferred partners. And as a result, companies with that designation are more likely to secure additional partnerships, business, and growth opportunities.
Driving Forces Pushing Companies to Vie Toward Shipper- or Carrier-of-Choice Status
A shipper of choice can often secure capacity from higher quality carriers at better prices, improving relationships throughout the shipping chain. Carriers-of-choice have more wiggle room in negotiating contracts or agreements and may actually receive payment for services faster.
The benefits are too great to ignore but unfortunately, problems remain and still push companies further into the need for faster shipping and greater volume. As explained by Material Handling & Logistics, “Only 3% say current systems fully support efforts to improve the customer experience while more than 66% report existing systems do nothing to improve customer experience.” With the demand for more continuing to grow, it’s essential to realize a few issues that force freight management parties to rethink business relationships and look to technology. These include:
- Higher freight spending.
- Need to increase customer service levels.
- Too many tender rejections.
- Increased uncertainty in the market.
- Inability to secure capacity.
- Need to stabilize the workforce post-COVID.
Freight Technology Makes It Easier for Freight Management Parties to Collaborate
Being regarded as a carrier or shipper of choice helps a business stand out and be noticed positively. With an increased pool of resources to pull from, shipper and carrier managers can provide a range of services and be prepared to adapt to customers’ and providers’ changing wants and needs.
Collaboration is a significant opportunity for growth through freight technology as it dramatically impacts response time, can increase the quality of service and affects the bottom line. Markets change, but the ebb and flow are becoming more and more sporadic and dramatic. That always requires carriers and shippers to be mindful of customer needs. Locating and securing space to transport your goods from Point A to Point B is critical and is a large part of what freight technology solutions can achieve. Change is inevitable, but in the past year, there has been more change and upheaval in the shipping industry than ever before. And adapting on the go is critical to success. Securing “of-choice” status allows companies to hit all these marks and still scale operations. And applied technology enables collaboration between carriers, shippers, managers, truckers, and customers.
How to Increase Eligibility for Shipper-of-Choice or Carrier-of-Choice Status
Finding the best way to increase freight management efficiency and attaining of-choice status can be difficult. Fortunately, companies can increase their eligibility by following these tips:
- Connect systems with an API. This streamlining approach makes it easier to get faster integration and data access along the supply chain.
- Share updates in real-time. Reducing legs and wait time means shipments come and go faster and in a more efficient manner.
- Use contextual messaging to make sense of updates. Keeping updates and notices easy to understand helps speed up the process for everyone.
- Track transportation via IoT-enabled sensors. Real-time scanning and updating have become expected and even demanded by customers today.
- Find out what the other party expects from its “of-choice” clients. Keeping customers happy means ensuring your partners’ needs are also met.
- Avoid delays in scheduling. Streamlining things from the very start with scheduling orders and shipments makes freight technology essential.
Improve Supply Chain Management With Advanced, Integrated Technologies That Promote Of-Choice Status
Innovation is the name of the game in supply chain management. As companies grow more concerned in the face of an election year, the future of the economy post COVID, and the threat of future disruptions, more managers turn to technology to survive. Find out more about how a unified supply chain tech stack can help your company unlock the secrets to success by visiting Turvo online today.
