Study looks at how carriers use the Web

By Staff -- Logistics Management, 4/1/2000

A new study of the ways in which carriers use the Internet suggests that over the next two years, transportation providers will concentrate more on Web-based transactions such as online ordering and shipment tracking than on Internet-based strategic activities such as collaborative planning. The study was conducted by consulting firm KPMG and market research firm Benchmarking Partners late last year. Researchers surveyed 22 major carriers, 14 manufacturers and retailers, and eight financial analysts on future usage of the World Wide Web in the transportation industry.

When it comes to Internet spending plans, carriers say they will focus more on reducing costs than on improving customer service, which they believe has reached acceptable levels. But despite the carriers' efforts to date, shippers think a lot of work needs to be done on the customer-relations side, says Kathy Capellini, a senior vice president in KPMG's transportation practice. Indeed, when shippers were asked which Internet-based capabilities they wanted carriers to offer, they placed shipment tracking at the top of the list, followed by customer self-help capabilities and provision of shipment visibility to all supply chain partners.

The survey results also raise questions about how committed carriers are to electronic commerce. Only 38 percent of the carrier respondents said they had designated an executive to oversee electronic commerce as a separate business activity.

One of the most interesting findings was that the role of what the study called transportation "infomediaries" was still limited. (The study defines infomediaries as the dot-com market exchanges that use the Internet to match shippers' needs with carrier capacity.) About 50 percent of the shippers surveyed said they would use infomediaries, yet carrier respondents said they did not view infomediaries as having a significant effect on their business. According to the study's authors, some carriers are even considering supplanting existing infomediaries with their own solutions in the interest of "controlling their own

destinies."