Intermodal Rail | Market, Trends, Growth | Suppliers Analysis

Strategic Sourcing Guide to Intermodal Rail Procurement

Overview

Transport market around the world is undergoing rapid transitions that have a massive potential to influence the way companies strategize for Intermodal Rail procurement and the cost they have to incur. Sustainability has emerged as a pivotal theme for procurement decisions related to supply chain. Companies are expecting their suppliers to internalize globally accepted sustainability practices and demonstrate a solid history of putting in practice similar principles. It is worth noting that practices of sustainability are not limited to only environmental impact but has taken a greater meaning of practices that can reduce the overall cost of operations in the long term.

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.

Large global suppliers are entering into JVs and M&As with vendors that can provide them a solid footing for regional play.

Intermodal Rail Procurement Best Practices

The report discusses in detail the best practices that have served well the category managers responsible for Intermodal Rail procurement.

For example, Buyers prefer to engage with service providers that offer robust technological systems and leverage Internet-based systems to reduce cost and simplify visibility across the supply chain. Buyers should also assess the integration capabilities of software platforms offered by service providers to ensure that there are no additional costs incurred for software implementation.

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 for category managers to track and measure supplier performance against a defined set of KPIs that are agreed upon by both parties during contract negotiation, including inventory accuracy, dock-to-stock, and on-time shipment. This is critical to ensure the optimal level of service. Suppliers' performance can also be linked to a part of their fee, which can be paid depending on the level of services rendered.

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Risks in Intermodal Rail procurement

Intermodal Rail procurement managers also need to proactively identify and mitigate potential risks that can arise in the supply chain or contracts for Intermodal Rail 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
Contract-related risks where unfavorable credit terms may severly penalize buyers for delayed payments or entitle the supplier to demand pre-payments or shorten the payment terms are not very common in the category but they do exist in certain situations where buyers' liquidity or financial health is in question

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Who should read this report

The report is intended to serve as a one-stop reference guide for Intermodal Rail 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 Rail: Procurement Report 101” as well as for category experts actively tracking the global Intermodal Rail procurement market.

You may have just initiated your research to design a winning Intermodal Rail 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 Rail 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 Rail 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 Rail market?
What is the correct price to pay for Intermodal Rail? What are the key trends and factors that influence current and future pricing?
Which selection criteria are the most important for Intermodal Rail Suppliers Market?
Who are the top Intermodal Rail suppliers? What are their cost structures?
Which negotiation levers can reduce Intermodal Rail procurement cost ?
What are supplier margins in Intermodal Rail market?
What are the best practices for Intermodal Rail 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 Rail Category Insights: What is inside

The Intermodal Rail 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 Rail 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 Rail. 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 Rail 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 Rail 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 Rail 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.