Global economic downturn, intense international trade competition, and spiking freight costs driven by maritime uncertainties, all make foreign trade companies extremely hard. Some foreign trade companies have managed to break through the difficult situation by relying on existing customer relationships. However, maintaining and consistently nurturing these relationships is crucial. Today, I want to share a business detail that is often overlooked by 90% of foreign trade professionals but is critically important for retaining existing customers – improving container loading rates. And how can LoadMaster load planning software can help?
Why do I say this? Please take a look at the real case below.
- In the face of intense competition, retaining existing customers is a pressing matter.
The tradition of running a business based on existing customer relationships has persisted from ancient times to the present day. In any profit-driven business society, is it guaranteed that customers with whom we have cooperated for many years will not be lost? Even long-term cooperating customers prioritize mutual benefits, and once a competitor offers them more profits, this seemingly solid existing customer relationship can easily fracture. Below is a real case:
Case 1: On a popular forum, there was a post about an existing customer who had been cooperating with a company for many years but suddenly stopped placing orders after receiving a new quote. Through investigation, it was discovered that our 3D container calculator indicated the need for 5 containers to fulfill the order, while a competitor claimed they could do it with only 4 containers. After having their most experienced container calculation expert reevaluate, it was confirmed that even with 4 containers, the order couldn’t be accommodated. Consequently, the existing customer never placed an order again, and the company lost them, just like that. It’s truly frustrating.
Why would such a seemingly unimportant indicator like container loading rate shake the seemingly invincible relationship with an existing customer?
Renowned economist Lang Xianping explained with an example: After internal adjustments in the German postal service system resulted in a 1% reduction in logistics costs, overall profits increased by 24%. The reason was that costs for each department were reduced by 1%, and when combined, the company’s profits grew by 24%. For foreign customers, a 10% increase in loading rates leads to a 10% reduction in unit product shipping costs. Lower shipping costs reduce the individual product’s costs, enlarge the pricing space, and enhance the customer’s ability to respond to market price risks. Therefore, customers pay great attention to loading rates. If this detail is not handled well, even long-term cooperating customers may be lost.
- Load full VS Load more
Case 2: Due to the high quality and good reputation of our company’s products, we attracted a major client from Japan for a price inquiry. After providing a quote, the client raised a question: Why is the loading rate of your company lower than that of other competing companies? Considering the importance of the client, we sought the assistance of a master with years of container calculation experience to help us. The result showed that, even with this assistance, our loading rate was still 5% lower than that of a specific competitor. Later, we carefully examined the container loading diagrams drawn by the expert, and each container seemed to be loaded to the maximum. I was puzzled – how could the extra 5% of goods be fitted into the containers?
Common Manual Container Loading Solutions
LoadMaster Container Loading Solutions
The first image represents a simulated common manual container loading solution, where all goods are placed with the height vertical to the ground, demonstrating the loading effect in a 20 GP container. The second image displays the container loading plan calculated by LoadMaster container and truck load planning software, utilizing various placement methods to maximize space utilization in loading a 20 GP container. The loading results for both scenarios are as follows:
From the above cases, it can be clearly seen that different placement methods and matching rules can result in different loading results, even in containers of the same size. Therefore, sometimes containers that appear loaded full actually have remaining space to load more for improvement in loading rates.
In the increasingly competitive landscape of international trade, existing customer relationships are not that reliable, and what you see with your eyes can be deceiving. Success or failure depends on paying attention to details. Putting customer interests first, increasing container loading rates to save shipping costs for customers, and enhancing customer satisfaction are the keys to retaining existing customers and attracting new ones in today’s business environment!