Has this COVID 19 situation changed customer expectations ever? Freight Forwarders
The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant impact on every aspect of life, including how people shop. With the sudden surge in e-commerce, retailers around the world are facing new challenges struggling to keep up with the unprecedented consumer demand. Freight and logistics organizations have been on the frontline since the beginning of the COVID 19 crisis, keeping the essential services running.
So what exactly are consumers buying? Products or Experience
As consumers get used to living in lockdown and working from home, they have turned to online shopping to stay safe. This situation is going to change the buying behaviour of the consumers permanently, and they will remember and value the service providers that have met their needs and provided the best customer service during this time.
As a solution provider, freight forwarders need to understand these requirements of their customers. It will help them to provide improved and innovative offerings so that their customers, in turn, get momentum to rise to any such crisis and deliver the best services.
With the massive disruptions that happened during the pandemic, the freight forwarding companies will never want to be in such a scenario again, where they are not able to serve customers. Constraints due to remote working should not be a pretext to let the customers suffer. They should ensure to automate and manage the basic business functionalities such as take booking, customs compliance, digital documentation, communications, customer service, and even the flexibility to operate from anywhere or home. Moreover, supplying them with the proper system or application that can provide more detailed business insights, management control tools, real-time visibility on finances, or revenue generated to plan in time.
Automation as the solution for efficiency and cost-savings post COVID
COVID 19 has forced an increase in digital communications influencing customers’ loyalty since customers place more value on digital experiences than before the pandemic. Every business operator wants to communicate to their customers more effectively by providing updates on every shipment, notifications, and alert them for any delay or changes in delivery. Now every business expects their technology partners to help them with tools so that they can communicate efficiently to win their customers’ trust and loyalty.
Innovation is the key driving factor that every operator will seek today, or in the future, freight forwarders have learned the lessons where the legacy systems have failed during the pandemic. Cloud technology has been the best enabler for them during remote work scenarios, where it had given them the due diligence to manage business activities even when the world was at a halt during the lockdown.
The future beholds several changes or uncertainties, but the logistics and freight forwarders would always want to ensure their business is running, as it will continue to be an essential service in any situation. They want to do it with the conviction that each of their customers can meet their expected delivery, and every forwarder is well aware now that the only way to do is by leveraging the right technology.
