How can Logistics e-Marketplace nurture paperless trade in the logistics industry?

Passengers have options today to choose the right flight at the right time and at the right price. They can choose to go early morning, mid-morning or a late-night and book tickets with their desired airline at a budget that suits them. Due to this flexibility and options available, airline passenger traffic has been exponentially increasing year after year. This is made further possible through aggregators such as Expedia, Booking.com and many such. On the other hand, a unified platform for cargo booking isn’t available. This means the industry has got better option to carry cargo of any size. However, shippers are often not aware of the space availability. 

Industry experts say that a logistics e-marketplace will be required to facilitate trade between the stakeholders. However, sheer reluctance is seen among the logistics service providers in the market owing to the investment cost involved in digitisation. Negating all these facts, a logistics e-marketplace is a dormant volcano which is set to burst anytime soon when an upsurge for rapid cargo movement is triggered. 

Market size 

According to reports, digital logistics market is said to have a market value of US$ 77.52 billion by 2030. Of this, data management systems, electronic data exchange systems, fleet management systems, and tracking and tracing applications hosted in a cloud environment is set to be the norm. The key drivers being the exponential growth of e-commerce players and being prepared for an unprecedented event like the pandemic, and most importantly achieving business intelligence.   

e-Commerce growth 

In addition to the push from the recent events to think digital, the exponential growth in e-commerce industry is to be attributed for being the driving force behind digitisation. e-Commerce giants believe that critical elements such as last mile delivery, and ensure limited loss of Cargo, it is mandatory to invest in digitisation. In the recent past, the growth of Amazon’s fleet of Cargo freighters across United States of America is a game changing initiative in a rather complex and competitive industry. 

Yet not all service providers could choose to have their own fleet. Hence, they continue to operate in a complex environment and are subject to challenges such as lack of visibility of Cargo movement, non-transparent operational environment, and non-utilisation of the full capacity. All these have a direct impact of day-to-day operations that cause operational delays and inefficiencies caused by manual documentation procedures, truck congestion, and lack of communication between all stakeholders. 

In order to solve these cues, digitisation was seen as a one-stop solution. However, it was limited to a specific stakeholder or a few. Therefore, freight exchange platforms did exist for a while, and there is still a gap to connect end-to-end logistics digitally in a seamless manner. This need is gradually pushing for transparent, flexible, and seamlessly adjustable services that are fostering a variety of logistics demands in terms of supply. Importer/Exporters process automation linked to the freight exchange platforms is completely missing which happened post-booking. 

Measurable benefits

Increased profitability: By automating manual processes, reducing costs, and improving efficiency, a logistics marketplace can increase profitability for shippers, carriers, and intermediaries. Service providers stand a chance to increase profits in the range of 20-30 per cent. 

Reduced transit times: By providing real-time information about capacity and pricing, a logistics marketplace can help shippers make informed decisions and reduce transit times, leading to improved customer satisfaction and reduced lead times. With the intervention of logistics e-marketplace, service providers foresee faster turnaround time of nearly 40 per cent. 

Improved utilization of resources: By connecting shippers and carriers directly, a logistics marketplace can help reduce waste and improve the utilization of transportation resources, leading to cost savings and reduced greenhouse gas emissions. Service providers foresee 90 per cent resource utilization. Also, with online communication stakeholders can save 5 days in back-and-forth negotiations. 

Increased volume of business: By providing a platform for shippers and carriers to connect, a logistics marketplace can increase the volume of business for both parties, leading to increased revenue and growth. Without the utilization of e-marketplace, an Airport can achieve more than 20 per cent growth that leads to significant volume growth without physical expansion. 

Improved accuracy: By reducing the risk of errors and misunderstandings, a logistics marketplace can improve the accuracy of information and reduce the risk of costly mistakes. With end-to-end communication facilitated between all stakeholders, data accuracy will see an enormous jump of 95 per cent. 

Enhanced customer satisfaction: By providing real-time visibility into the status of shipments and reducing transit times, a logistics marketplace can improve customer satisfaction and increase loyalty. Service providers can seamlessly perform their regular activities diligently and enhance 3x customer satisfaction.  

Competitive edge: With an e-marketplace, logistics service providers become more competitive as the platform nurtures healthy competition and the one offering the best prices will get successful. This way the consumers can seamlessly operate. 

Route optimization: Truckers often get stuck in congestion for long hours because of choosing the wrong route. In this scenario, an e-marketplace offers route optimisation through which they can reach the destination on time and ensure the cargo reaches the destination on time. 

LeMP – the game changer 

Deep tech plays a critical part in the logistics supply chain and especially in the marketplace landscape where multiple scenarios intertwine to throw up multiple options. Deep tech such as Machine Learning, Artificial Intelligence, Blockchain enhances user experience with the solution in making profitable decisions in terms of timelines, service levels, economics of transportation, predicting and managing bottlenecks and ensure integrity of information and data. LeMP is a platform which is built with these innovative technologies and for that reason experts believe it could be a game changer in the coming years.