It’s been difficult for carriers to deal with the drop in freight during this period of crisis that was caused by Covid-19. This pandemic has brought a great logistical imbalance, in which product purchases have dropped and many transport companies have their vehicles stopped, because there is not enough cargo to operate.
However, many carriers are already using a tool that has given great support to continue operating, even in the midst of the crisis, as is the case with online shipping platforms.
We will show you how carriers from all over Brazil are taking advantage of online shipping to get around this situation, by increasingly selling their service over the internet.
Current scenario
The Coronavirus pandemic began to wreak havoc in early 2020 and it didn’t take long to trigger a world- class economic crisis. Major events, international flights and other services that generate agglomerations began to be canceled until we reached the need for social isolation.
Although road freight transport is an essential service, since it is responsible for about 65% of everything that circulates in Brazil, the numbers show that this sector is being greatly affected.
Variation in demand in cargo transport
To give you an idea, near the end of March 2020, when governors of several states decreed the closure of shops, carriers have already felt a 26.14% drop in the overall volume of cargo, according to a survey by NTC & Logistical. Since then, demand has continued to decline, reaching a negative variation of -45.20% in the penultimate week of April.
Even with the slight stabilization that occurred between the 20th and 26th of April, the scenario is still worrying. After all, buying non-essential products is still not a priority for consumers. Consequently, carriers suffer from a drop in their billing.
Growth in e-commerce
E-commerce, on the other hand, had a positive balance in the midst of the crisis: just in the Easter period, between April 1 and 12, 2020, e-commerce grew 64% and earned 3.2 billion realis. This is justified by the closing of physical stores and social isolation measures to contain the transmission of the virus, making many people choose to buy products online.
For shippers working in e-commerce, this growth has brought the challenge of looking for carriers that meet this new demand, so as not to jeopardize delivery times. One solution found was to hire online freight. The search for online shipping has grown by 77% since the beginning of the pandemic in Brazil, as shown in the graph below from Google Trends.
Advantages of hiring online shipping
Now you might be wondering why the shipper is looking for online shipping. Well, we list below the advantages that hiring online freight brings to the shipper, so you can understand better.
Distance: looking for online freight, the shipper can hire the carrier completely remotely. The entire negotiation process takes place online, including quoting the service and exchanging files, such as invoices. With this, the contractor does not break the isolation rules and their employees are safer.
Instant quotes: the shipper doesn’t have to spend so much time calling companies and waiting to receive freight quotes by email. Online carriers can offer automatic quotes, which speeds up the hiring process.
Integration with e-commerce: the shipper can include the freight tables of online carriers in their e-commerce and offer their customers the best shipping options.
Secure information: when files are exchanged digitally, the information is standardized and stored in a secure environment. In this way, issuing and sharing documents (including EDI) happens without typing errors and faster.
What the carrier needs to sell shipping online
The carrier that wants to start closing freight online to increase its sales needs to define some important points of its business. That way, shippers will know that your transport company meets the needs they are looking for. See below for these points.
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Type of cargo to be transported
Does your vehicle fleet have the structure to transport what kind of goods? Grains, packaging, dangerous goods, refrigerated?
For each type of cargo, there is a different need for the structure of the vehicle, and knowing this is important for the shipper. Therefore, have defined for which cargo models your carrier will provide service.
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Area of operation
Also define in which cities and states your carrier will act to make deliveries, as well as collections. Some carriers subcontract and reship to serve a larger area. Establish how your business will work and what service coverage will be.
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Modes
Does your carrier carry out multimodal cargo transport? If this is not the case, leave your business modal established, so the customer will know whether or not you will be able to meet the transport he needs.
If your carrier only serves road transport, for example, and the shipper needs the goods to arrive in a region where access is exclusive by sea, you will not meet expectations, as you do not work with waterway transport.
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Means of contact
Every day, service providers lose business opportunities because they don’t care about the means of communication that the customer can use to reach them.
Then, define what your customer contact channels will be, such as phone and email. Recently, a tool widely used in communication has been WhatsApp – will your carrier use this new medium to serve customers?
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Freight table
Do you agree that informing the freight values to the customer by head, without having an exact calculation that includes several fees, can lead to several calculation errors? So, with all the information that makes up your business, it’s time for you to prepare a shipping table.
This activity can be optimized with a ready-made model. With everything recorded in a document, you define your values quickly to pass on to the customer, with the information involving the price already configured.
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Register on an online shipping platform
Finally, you must register your company on an online freight platform that is specialized for carriers, such as CNShip4Shop. A digital tool that receives visits from shippers from all over Brazil and that serves carriers of all modes.
To get started, just access the website, register all the information you defined above for your carrier and start participating.
How to close online shipping
Closing an online shipping has never been so simple. It all starts with the shipper, who, upon entering the CNShip4Shop website, enters information about his merchandise and the place of collection and delivery in the quotation fields.
On the CNShip4Shop homepage, the shipper informs the quotation data to carry out the search for the ideal carrier.
After requesting the quote, the list of available carriers will quickly appear in the search results, according to the information he specified earlier.
See how simple it is? The shipper contacts the carrier ready to close the deal, as he has chosen knowing that it will be able to meet his needs.
That way, your carrier can receive freight quotes every day. In addition to reducing your prospecting costs, as several shippers will voluntarily reach you with the exact profile you can meet, the tool also helps you close new customers, as the entire hiring process can happen online.
Selling more freight has never been so essential in a time of crisis as it is now. Many carriers are having to operate with little load or find themselves in a worse situation: with vehicles stopped for lack of service.
Advantages of having the carrier online
Putting your carrier in an online environment makes all the difference for your business to stand out among competitors. Through CNShip4Shop, in addition to appearing for shippers from all over Brazil who are looking for new carriers, you can have an exclusive page for your business.
With an exclusive page for your online carrier, the shipper can automatically quote your service and get in touch with you, all this quickly through your contact information that will be available on the screen. In addition, you can offer load tracking to your customers right from your page.
There are many benefits in one solution, isn’t it? We know that the challenges have been great for the logistics sector, especially for you, the carrier manager. That’s why we want to help your company get through this moment with a tool that helps you get more shipping online, especially in the midst of all the limitations brought by social distancing.