Enhancing Global Logistics Visibility: The Key to Scaling Fast-Growth Businesses

Introduction: The Challenges of Modern Supply Chains

In today’s fast-paced global marketplace, supply chain management has become increasingly complex. With Trans-Pacific Eastbound (TPEB) crossings taking an average of 109 days and total transit times doubling compared to pre-pandemic levels, businesses face unprecedented challenges in managing their logistics operations. For small businesses and e-commerce companies, this new reality requires meticulous demand planning months in advance.

The global supply chain has faced numerous disruptions over the past couple of years, including port labor issues, the Suez Canal blockage, and COVID-19 restrictions. These factors, combined with a surge in consumer demand for goods, have led to significant delays and cost increases across every step of the supply chain. As a result, global container shipping has become a highly disrupted, under-supplied seller’s market, with shipping costs skyrocketing to 4-10 times their normal rates.

The Impact of Supply Chain Disruptions on Businesses

To put the current situation into perspective, consider these striking statistics:

• Effective ocean shipping rates have increased fivefold since 2020, a phenomenon not seen in the shipping industry for over 30 years.
• The spot price per container on the China-U.S. East coast route grew by more than 500% from 2020 to 2021, reaching $20,804 in August 2021.
• Consumer spending online during the 2021 holiday season grew 8.6% year-over-year to a record $204.5 billion.
• Online spending for all of 2021 increased by 9% to a record $855 billion.

These challenges have led to persistent supply issues, resulting in over 6 billion out-of-stock messages online during the 2021 holiday season alone. For businesses striving to keep their SKUs in stock and customers informed, the need for real-time data and visibility into every step of the supply chain has never been more critical.

The Power of Global Logistics Visibility

At FreightAmigo, we understand that supply chain resiliency depends heavily on end-to-end data visibility and the flexibility it provides to logistics teams. Our Digital Logistics Platform offers comprehensive visibility that enables businesses to make informed decisions, improve analytics, enhance customer satisfaction, reduce bottlenecks, and streamline customs and compliance clearance.

Here’s how global logistics visibility can benefit your business:

1. Real-Time Data for Agile Decision Making

Our Digital Logistics Solution provides access to real-time data and insights, all easily accessible from a single source of truth. This empowers businesses of any size to respond faster to constantly changing needs. With just a few clicks, you can access self-serve data on transit times, helping your team plan optimal routes and modes for different SKUs.

2. Enhanced Collaboration and Communication

By providing access to real-time data and insights, we enable better collaboration between partners, suppliers, customer service teams, and other stakeholders. This improved communication helps streamline operations and reduce miscommunications that can lead to delays or errors.

3. Proactive Problem Solving

With end-to-end visibility, potential bottlenecks and disruptions can be identified and addressed proactively, even when goods are en route. This level of foresight allows businesses to mitigate risks and maintain smoother operations.

4. Improved Customer Experience

Real-time tracking enables businesses to set accurate customer expectations and keep buyers informed about their order’s precise location. This transparency helps maintain customer loyalty and satisfaction, even in challenging shipping environments.

5. Cross-Departmental Benefits

The benefits of global logistics visibility extend beyond the logistics team. Customer service can access real-time tracking data, finance can monitor spend and make real-time adjustments, compliance can streamline auditing processes, and marketing can make informed decisions on product promotions based on availability and expected delivery dates.

Flexibility: The Key to Supply Chain Resilience

Perhaps the most significant advantage of comprehensive logistics visibility is the flexibility it brings to your operations. With FreightAmigo’s Digital Platform, businesses can quickly adjust modes, routes, and shipping strategies as new information becomes available.

This flexibility allows for:

• Adjusting modal mix when demand shifts
• Ensuring top-selling SKUs stay in stock by routing them via air priority
• Maintaining consistent delivery even with inconsistent warehouse space by using LCL and partial shipments
• Shifting to a direct-to-consumer model with ship-to-stock and ship-to-sell options
• Responding to unexpected slowdowns by transloading and booking alternative transportation

Improving On-Time Delivery and Supply Chain Resilience

With FreightAmigo’s Digital Logistics Platform, businesses can view their supply chain as a whole, identify issues quickly, and work collaboratively to resolve them. Our technology enables real-time cargo tracking, helping everyone stay up-to-date on shipment status, warehouse capacity needs, and customer delivery updates.

We understand that achieving supply chain resilience is particularly challenging for small businesses and eCommerce brands with smaller logistics teams and less in-house expertise. That’s why FreightAmigo acts as an extension of your logistics team, providing data visibility down to the individual SKU level and offering access to our global teams of experts.

Conclusion: Embracing Global Logistics Visibility for Future Success

In today’s complex and unpredictable global trade environment, taking steps to enhance your supply chain with data visibility and flexibility is crucial. FreightAmigo’s Digital Logistics Solution offers the tools and support needed to run your supply chain end-to-end efficiently.

By leveraging our platform, businesses can order goods, ship anywhere, and track it all from a single dashboard. Most tasks can be completed in minutes, allowing you to focus on growing your business. As you scale, FreightAmigo’s reliable global logistics network and fast financing options bring new markets within reach.

In an era where every second counts, seeing your entire supply chain in one place is invaluable. FreightAmigo is committed to making shipping your cargo transparent, reliable, and affordable, helping fast-growth businesses scale at the speed of business.

Don’t let supply chain complexities hold your business back. Embrace the power of global logistics visibility with FreightAmigo and unlock your company’s full potential in the global marketplace.