E-commerce boosts shipping industry's recovery

Since the beginning of this year, the overall growth rate of port production in China has slowed down and the international shipping market has continued to slump. At the beginning of the year, the international Baltic Sea freight index fell below the historical low point during the international financial crisis in 2008. The international container and oil transportation continued to suffer losses, and the shipping industry, which bears more than 90% of foreign trade traffic, is experiencing a deep chill.

In addition, shipping companies are also faced with the predicament of a decrease in the export volume of traditional markets, a decline in freight rates, and an overall increase in costs. Fuel costs, boat wages, and financing costs continue to rise, resulting in a substantial increase in industry losses.

Some market participants expect that although the darkest period of the shipping industry has passed, there will be a long time before dawn because there will be a large number of new shipping capacity delivered between 2013 and 2014. The imbalance between supply and demand in the shipping industry will continue for some time. Time, it is expected that the excess capacity will continue until 2013 or even 2014.

However, with increasingly fierce competition in the shipping market and deteriorating market conditions, e-commerce can take full advantage of shipping companies, eliminate information asymmetry, and reduce corporate marketing costs. The role of e-commerce in shipping companies is increasingly important. As an important way for customer service, e-commerce has become an important engine for shipping companies to participate in market competition.

As early as 2003, COSCON began building an e-commerce platform. After years of e-commerce platform construction, COSCO Container Lines has gradually formed a multi-channel e-commerce solution for various levels: Large customers can obtain special information services through VIP EDI data exchange; small and medium customers can access online e-commerce services through the website; The mobile customers who often go out can obtain the relevant goods dynamic information directly through the mobile e-commerce platform. In short, customers can arbitrarily choose their service channels according to their own circumstances, and they can get unified e-commerce services from COSCON at any time and place. After years of hard work, COSCON's e-commerce platform has achieved a good reputation among industry peers and customers.

In 2012, COSCON launched the Pan Asia Internal Trade Online Business Office to try a new model of online sales channels. Pan Asia Domestic Trade Online Business Hall relies on the advantages of the IRIS2 integrated system to instantly publish the full range of freight rates for domestic trade-related routes. The freight price information is transparent and real. At the same time, it cooperated with China UnionPay to realize the online payment function and realized the direct sales of shipping companies to shippers using the Internet.

Based on the electronic bridge of e-commerce platform, the communication between COSCON and customers is more smooth and the collaboration is closer. The customer's satisfaction with COSCON is increasing. Through the construction of an e-commerce platform, COSCO Container Lines has achieved customer service differentiation, value-added and continuity.

By building multi-channel e-commerce services, COSCON can provide different e-commerce solutions for different customer groups and achieve differentiated service strategies. For example, VIPEDI has become an important service method for large customer services. More and more large customers use the cargo carrier's EDI service capabilities as an important indicator of contract signing. Each year, some large customers recognize the continuous improvement of COSMO's VIPEDI. In terms of service capabilities and quality, an agreement was finally reached with COSCON to deliver the goods to COSCON.

By building industry-leading e-commerce capabilities, COSCON is committed to providing value-added services to its customers. For example, COSCON has taken the lead in launching the iconic cargo tracking service in the industry, displaying the important information such as the transportation route, transportation mode and current location in a graphical format to the customer. The transportation situation is clear at a glance. Cargo tracking is the most popular e-commerce function of COSCO Container Lines, which has been used more than 4 million times annually.

By building a mobile APP (application client), COSCO Container Lines has taken the lead in the mobile Internet era, and at the same time it has ensured the continuity of customer service and allowed customers to enjoy the service experience that “the goods are just like taking away without any omission”. COSCON Mobile APP covers three major smartphone platforms, including IOS, Android, and Windows Mobile. Customers can use the software installed on the mobile phone to search for information such as cargo tracking, shipping date enquiries, and customs declaration enquiries.

As an important part of COSCON's informatization construction, e-commerce will be a long-term pursuit of COSCO Container Lines. With the continuous development of Internet technology and the continuous changes in the container shipping industry, COSCO Container Lines will provide customers with increasingly perfect E-commerce solutions use e-commerce tools and customers to work closely together and develop together.