The increasingly homogenous range of services and products offered in the logistics market are making it harder and harder for a customer to select the right vendor. From the vendor’s perspective (for small and medium-sized companies), it can be difficult to stay competitive because the main focus is always on the price and certain well-known companies have put their stamp on the market over the years. Large companies also face the challenge of staying competitive because customers
keep asking for more and more features. Customers wantflexible and tailor-made solutions and they want them “on demand”. This demand from customers has driven the need in the future for a suitable marketplace where companies can offer their logistics solutions. Just like a shopping mall, a B2B customer wants to be able to select the products and services they want and combine them with others. To be able to continue to increase customer satisfaction and also satisfy all demands, two disciplines need to mesh and become better integrated in the future—logistics and marketing.
Customers do not look for goods or services per se, they look for solutions.30
The quote clearly shows that customers are thinking bigger than just services and products. They want a solution for their problem. They want added value at the end of a process. It all comes back to individuality. The Logistics Mall as a solution for providing custom service offerings fosters the interactive character of the solution and leads to increased customer satisfaction. This new approach, one of viewing and using the Logistics Mall not just as a platform for products and services but as a solutions platform, needs to be lived. In the future this will mean for the customer that none of their problems will go unsolved.
The results of the market analysis make it clear that the time for cloud computing and, in particular, cloud computing in logistics is here. The logistics market is already moving in that direction.
The business culture will change over time. The focus will be on custom solutions. The network concept that the Logistics Mall represents leaves a lot of leeway. Each company—no matter how big or small—has the chance to be a part of this development and help shape it: The experts are already saying that the Logistics Mall will become the largest logistics platform in the industry.
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30 Grönroos: Service Management and Marketing. A Customer Relationship Management
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