The holidays are quickly approaching, and shoppers are checking off their gift lists. This year, however, the festive frenzy has not been strong enough to create a traditional peak season effect.
“Peak is muted,” Emerge President George Abernathy said. “There is definitely spending going on, but I do think that there is a lot of hesitancy going on out there.”
“You see some shippers that are aggressively going after the advantage that the demand side has in the market right now,” Abernathy said. “Others are being a little bit more conservative, but you are seeing a lot of folks who have historically done annual bidding, bidding more frequently now.”
This opportunity for varied procurement strategies to be undertaken is the result of technology providers like Emerge giving shippers the ability to execute on their specific capacity needs. It represents an opportunity that has previously been out of reach for most companies due to the constraints of technologies that are antiquated, not transportation specific and limited in scenario management.
The narrative that there should continue to be a strengthening of shipper-carrier relationships in order to safeguard against market volatility has been put to the test in 2022. But many shippers continue to pursue this with their provider partners, shown according to Abernathy by shippers who are still when it comes to awarding bids.
“We are seeing a lot of activity right now,” he said. “Bid season may have peaked, but it is certainly not over. Bidding is now going to be an ongoing process.”
Some shippers have embraced shorter bid cycles, made possible by technologies like those provided by Emerge. With more frequent bids, these companies have the chance to take advantage of dropping rates without losing the ability to respond to possible market shifts in the near-term future. Annual bids certainly have their place in many circumstances, but there is now the ability to broaden the lens towards alternative bid timing.
That flexibility means shippers can lock in savings now with the ability to be proactive to signals being sent in the market on their transportation network.