What’s important to shippers?
Buyers of transportation services consider many things when choosing carriers. Contrary to some industry-held beliefs, our industry research shows it’s not all about price. Buyers of transportation services have a variety of competing priorities and these priorities change based on their modal selection. The chart shown below shows the importance transportation buyers place on seven different key performance indicators when selecting a carrier. They were asked to rate the importance of each KPI on a scale of 1 to 5, with 5 being of the highest importance. Notice that for those using LTL services, on-time performance and customer service are rated ahead of competitive pricing in terms of importance. Contrast that with transportation buyers employing either marine or rail services where competitive price is what is given the highest importance in their selection. Note also that truckload carriers have to be more concerned about their pricing levels than LTL carriers as buyers of TL services rank competitive pricing second behind on-time performance in choosing between carriers. This is part of the data gathered by our sixth annual Shipper’s Choice Survey, conducted this summer in partnership with the Canadian Industrial Transportation Association and CITT.
IMPORTANCE OF PERFORMANCE CRITERIA
Mode | On-time performance | Equipment and operations | Information technology | Competitive pricing | Customer service | Problem solving | Value-added services |
LTL Trucking | 4.727 | 4.179 | 3.914 | 4.594 | 4.624 | 4.257 | 3.387 |
TL Trucking | 4.793 | 4.388 | 4.001 | 4.616 | 4.550 | 4.228 | 3.614 |
Ocean Carriers | 4.564 | 4.371 | 4.280 | 4.623 | 4.552 | 4.304 | 3.816 |
Couriers | 4.845 | 4.288 | 4.497 | 4.615 | 4.633 | 4.297 | 3.616 |
Air Carriers | 4.892 | 4.406 | 4.416 | 4.473 | 4.601 | 4.366 | 3.749 |
Rail Carriers | 4.508 | 4.255 | 4.157 | 4.594 | 4.442 | 4.149 | 3.505 |
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