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DHL online truck marketplace launches in UK
[ August 31, 2017 // Chris ]DHL’s digital freight platform, Saloodo!, is now available in the UK, following its launch in Germany, offering domestic and international transport services.
DHL has also added extra services to the platform, including quotes and invoicing in national currencies and local taxation. As well as credit card, PayPal and SEPA, payment against invoices is also possible. The driver app, which displays carriers order details as well as route information already available in English and German, is now available in Bulgarian, Czech, Dutch, Hungarian, Lithuanian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian and Spanish.
The new venture’s chief commercial officer, Marcel Frings, says it is primarily aimed at B2B companies with short-term shipping requirements, as well as small and medium-sized firms that are looking for competitive offers from trustworthy road freight transport providers.
He describes Saloodo! as “a vendor-neutral digital freight platform. With Saloodo! as a contract partner, both shippers and transport providers can benefit from full transparency and safety of their logistic processes, connecting shippers and transport providers on demand. By enabling access to a highly fragmented market through a single platform, Saloodo! increases efficiency for both.”
He adds that the marketplace gives companies that need to ship freight access to reliable and suitable transport providers without time-consuming negotiations and difficult comparisons of prices and services. Shippers also get immediate access to pricing information based on their shipment characteristics, availability of trucks and last-booked rates.
For transport providers of all sizes, Saloodo! provides a platform to present their company’s assets and capabilities to a large audience of shippers so they can find suitable loads to optimise their capacity. A dynamic transport quote calculator helps transport providers to make their offers as competitive as possible.
Frings points out: “Unlike many other platforms, Saloodo! is an open marketplace and gives transport providers access to a lot of loads. Other platforms are focused on the respective owner’s services and thus limiting choices for shippers significantly. We are confident that our approach better serves customer expectations towards an online marketplace as it provides them with more opportunities that fit their individual needs.”
He adds: “The main advantage is that our customers are handling the whole operational processes of their transports on one digital freight platform. For this purpose, a structured dashboard is available on which all information, including transport orders, delivery status, proof of delivery, damage documentation or invoices are displayed.
“Additionally, the information is provided by the driver through the Saloodo! driver app, via which tracking and tracing, delay notifications as well as the proof of delivery submitted.”
While Saloodo! is a fully owned subsidiary of Deutsche Post DHL Group, it is vendor neutral, says Frings. “However, transport providers will find a generous choice of DHL Freight loads on Saloodo!, while companies with shipping needs will get instant quotes from DHL on every load.”
Saloodo! is used internally by DHL for its own transport needs.
The new online marketplace is also especially suited to the highly fragmented German market, he believes. “It’s quite challenging for small and medium sized companies to find the right provider for their transport needs at an appropriate price. Another crucial factor is reliability, especially for shippers who are not shipping on a regular basis or who have short-term demands; it’s very hard to get an overview of reliable transport providers meeting their needs and offering a competitive price.”
Since its introduction in Germany in early 2017, the online marketplace has been offering transport services within Germany, from Europe to Germany and vice versa but is now expanding and internationalizing. Following its launch in the UK, more countries will gain access to Saloodo! in autumn, starting with Spain and Portugal.
Tags: DHL