Intermodal Cargo Transport | Market, Trends, Growth | Suppliers Analysis

Strategic Sourcing Guide to Intermodal Cargo Transport Procurement

Overview

The market for Transport and its sub-segments such as Intermodal Cargo Transport are at an interesting intersection. Rise in minimum labor wages across countries such as the US and China will result in increased employee expenses for Intermodal Cargo Transport suppliers who will be forced to pass on a part of this increase to their buyers.

Suppliers are increasingly adopting a demand-driven planning of their assets and resources to reduce costs and optimize operational efficiency. Part of the cost savings are passed on to buyers, but this also creates supply chain risks for them that need to be managed jointly with the supplier.

Businesses are focused on maintaining a lean inventory of raw materials, parts, components and finished goods. While it is a novel concept to keep the inventory costs in check, it also highly challenging to implement in a global sourcing context and requires a clock work like optimization of logistics and warehousing processes. Companies are moving to a completely digital supply chain footprint to reduce errors and risks associated with such strategies.

Trends like these and many others discussed in this report are necessitating a relook at the way Intermodal Cargo Transport is procured and the procurement cost saving opportunities that exist.

Intermodal Cargo Transport Procurement Best Practices

It has become imperative for category managers to remain as agile as possible in terms of their procurement practices. However, it is not always easy to quickly spot and implement alternative practices in a category like Intermodal Cargo Transport. To help quick decision making, this report advises on several procurement best practices that have worked well for category managers.

For example, Buyers should negotiate to get the best add-on services from their suppliers, such as real-time tracking, route optimization, big data analytics to plan and forecast future requirements and Six Sigma practices to ensure the procurement of quality services.

It is important that buyers assess the operating model of service providers to determine the best-fit case for their organizations. Buyers need to determine if services offered by the providers are comprehensive and involve adequate resource support and a well-defined customizable execution plan.

Buyers should negotiate for administrative control over all technological systems that contain critical data. This will ensure 100% transparency and visibility over logistics operations. In addition, buyers should demand visibility across the entire supply chain using real-time metrics such as mobile and telematics systems.

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Risks in Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement

Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement. Some examples include:

Factors such as hurricanes, tornadoes, terrorist acts, diseases, and earthquakes quickly hamper the operations within the category. Such risks are unforeseeable and disrupt the whole supply chain leading to significant losses to both the buyers and suppliers
The category is highly impacted by the global economic factors. Economic downturn and political upheaval, particularly in major international markets such as the US and China, results in huge uncertainties. Uncertainty in customer demand owing to changes in freight and shipping market from general economic fluctuations and decline in international freight demand negatively impact the category
Suppliers may face a situation where they are unable to honor a contract in its entirety due to shortage of resources, finances or capabilities. While contractual terms safeguard buyers from the non-performance, their operations could still face massive disruptions due to suppliers' non-performance

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Who should read this report

The report is intended to serve as a one-stop reference guide for Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement strategy and offers a perfect blend of category basics with deep-dive category data and insights. Therefore, it is ideal for category beginners looking for “Intermodal Cargo Transport: Procurement Report 101” as well as for category experts actively tracking the global Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement market.

You may have just initiated your research to design a winning Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement strategy, or you may be a category expert looking for strategic insights and updated data.Either ways, the report has your requirements covered.

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Key questions on Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement answered by this report

Procurement decisions can prove to be costly in the absence of careful deliberation and evaluation of every available option. In fact, more than 90% of the decision makers we work with acknowledge that timely availability of up-to-date category intelligence can help them make better purchasing decisions. More than 80% of them believe that in-house category intelligence needs to be updated periodically to achieve full benefits. If you have read so far, we are quite sure you agree!!

The Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement report helps take more informed decisions by placing all the critical information and advice at the fingertips of a decision maker. It also specifically answers some of the key questions that we have been routinely asked during our industry outreach initiatives:

What is the spend potential in the Intermodal Cargo Transport market?
What is the correct price to pay for Intermodal Cargo Transport? What are the key trends and factors that influence current and future pricing?
Which selection criteria are the most important for Intermodal Cargo Transport Suppliers Market?
Who are the top Intermodal Cargo Transport suppliers? What are their cost structures?
Which negotiation levers can reduce Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement cost ?
What are supplier margins in Intermodal Cargo Transport market?
What are the best practices for Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement and what are the potential risks?

SpendEdge Insights has helped procurement professionals and sourcing teams manage multiple spend areas and achieve more than $2 billion in savings. Activate your free account today!

Intermodal Cargo Transport Category Insights: What is inside

The Intermodal Cargo Transport market report offers a complete picture of the supply market and analyzes the category from the perspective of both buyers and suppliers. Analysis of the category trends, procurement best practices, negotiation levers and overall category management strategy advisory are interspersed with in-depth data and commentary on spend outlook, pricing ecosystem and supplier landscape drilled down to a region-level coverage.

Data

A key highlight of this report is the in-depth outlook created on Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement spend and pricing trends. The report further delves deep into the aspects of cost structure, total cost of ownership and supplier margins for Intermodal Cargo Transport. A dedicated section to supplier profiles and evaluation helps decision makers cast a wider procurement net and identify gaps in existing relationships.

Insights

Along with specific category and supplier intelligence, the publication also includes curated insights on Intermodal Cargo Transport market trends, price influencers and inherent risks. These insights help the decision makers prepare for market shaping trends in advance and create alternative strategies for changes in the market conditions.

Advisory

Additionally, the report also advises on the best practices and strategies to manage the Intermodal Cargo Transport category efficiently. Negotiation levers and opportunities are explained in detail along with quantification of their potential. Benchmark KPIs for supplier and buyer performance management are also aggregated to better organize the category objectives. Other themes of advisory include ideal procurement organization structure, enablers to achieve KPIs or category objectives and ideal SLAs to have with suppliers.

Category Ecosystem

Buyer and supplier ecosystem
Competitiveness index
Buyer and supplier power
Threat of new entrants and substitutes

Global and Regional Sourcing Insights

Category spend
Spend growth
Dynamics
Opportunities

Pricing and Cost Analysis

Pricing outlook and data
Drivers of pricing
Cost structure and inputs cost
Total cost of ownership
Pricing models and margins

Cost Saving Opportunities & Negotiation Strategies

Buyer and supplier side levers
Quantified cost saving opportunities
Negotiation strategies and quantified outcome

Procurement Best Practices, Strategy and Enablers

Procurement excellence
Sustainability and innovation
KPIs and category enablers
Risk management and outsourcing

Vendor Analysis

RFx essentials and selection criteria
SLAs
Supplier evaluation metrics
Detailed supplier profiles

Our research is complex, but our reports are easy to digest. Quantitative analysis and exhaustive commentary is placed in an easy to read format that gives you an in-depth knowledge on the category without spending hours to figure out “what does it mean for my company?”

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Category Research Framework

SpendEdge presents a detailed picture of Intermodal Cargo Transport procurement solutions by way of study, synthesis, and summation of data from multiple sources. The analysts have presented the various facets of the market with a particular focus on identifying the key category influencers. The data thus presented is comprehensive, reliable, and the result of extensive research, both primary and secondary.