Here’s the Secret to Taking Your Freight Logistics Business Global
As those of us in the business know, Freight Forwarders deliver tremendous value to their customers and to the world’s supply chain.
But despite the fact that Forwarders are critical to the global economy, too many seem artificially constrained by factors like location and industry segment. After all, if our industry is global, shouldn’t your business be as well? Is it possible Freight Forwarders are thinking too small?
It’s 2017 and in order to grow, it’s necessary to think big -- global, in fact. But doing business the same old way only reinforces those old constraints. Only technology -- enabled by an innovative platform and forward-thinking business practices -- can catapult you from a small-potatoes shop to a global juggernaut.
Once you’re doing business online, you’ve liberated yourself from the shackles of geography. Shipping perishables from California across the Pacific? Why not bring your rates, relationships and expertise to opportunities in Florida? Have a large volume of paints, but can’t ever seem to get a foothold in perfumes? The right digital platform gives you the power to access the right base of rates so you can grow into new verticals.
How Mom and Pop Can Conquer the World
Here’s a fun example from another kind of business: Imagine you are the owner of the best candy store in the world. Everyone in your neighborhood knows your candy store is the greatest.
But your candy store has a problem: No one outside your hometown really knows of it. As a result, your customers are all local, and you don’t have the budget to advertise regionally or nationally. And even if you did, how would you keep up with the demand? You would need to source ingredients on a whole new scale, accelerate production, and account for shipping logistics.
It’s pretty obvious how this candy store can go global using technology. Their storefront (and inventory management and delivery) comes courtesy of Amazon, cost-efficient advertising comes from Google and Facebook, and sourcing ingredients comes from bulk sellers online.
Parallel solutions apply to the Freight Forwarder who is looking to grow their business by going global. But logistics is not exactly the same as e-commerce, and there are some important considerations when figuring out to migrate your business to a digital platform:
- Affordability: A digital solution shouldn’t come at a steep cost. Rather, it needs to offer you added value without emptying your pockets to access it. The old adage goes, “Spend money to make money”, but it doesn’t say spend “all” your money.
- Ease of use: The last thing you need when you’re growing your business is a tedious new tool that slows you and your daily processes down. Your perfect digital solution should be intuitive and should mesh easily with your busy schedule. When your business grows globally, it’ll grow fast. You need a solution that’ll help you keep up the pace.
- Global diversity: Your digital solution should help you expand your reach. This means the audience it opens to you isn’t restricted to nearby businesses where you can “pop over and say hello.” Local success is important, but your digital solution needs to give you a chance to expand beyond the farthest limits of a full gas tank.
- Clarity on available business to minimize your risk: You can’t run your business on pure hypotheticals. You need ways to analyze data to assess risk and reward. A good digital solution will help estimate the demand awaiting your services and expertise, so you don’t have to take shots in the dark and potentially spend on a fruitless endeavor.
- Brand reputation: Your business has value. Your digital solution needs to help you leverage that value. You’re not using your digital solution to show it off, you want your digital solution to show you off. If you have something great to offer the wider world of your industry, make sure your digital solution can help spread the word.
Digital solutions promote visibility and enable opportunities that were previously out of reach. But the right digital solution will help your business mobilize on a global level so that your value doesn’t get trapped in a small corner of a big world.
Download the free CoLoadX whitepaper, "Logistics as a Service: How it Will Transform Your Ocean Freight Business" and see how LaaS will help your company grow.
By: CoLoadX on July 6, 2017, 2:55 p.m.