To stand out to customers, logistics businesses often work harder at lower prices. It’s not a great way to grow your business, especially when margins are already tight. When looking at what assets you have to build a competitive advantage, data might not be the first thing to jump to mind.
However, with customers wanting to improve their supply chain transparency and even report on topics like ESG, the information you already have at hand could be what gets your business to the next level.
ESG reporting
Globally, reporting on ESG is becoming a mandate for public and private companies – including carbon emissions data. As every industry is serviced in some way by logistics, whether that’s through shipping out products or receiving them, logistics providers are being tasked with providing the data.
Averaging out the emissions of all your deliveries and then tallying the total stops for each customer won’t cut it, either. Businesses reporting on ESG need real numbers, and will partner with logistics companies that can provide it to them. Having a robust system in place to track the data you’re already collecting from an ESG lens is one way to stay competitive in a tight market.
Even if it’s not in a sophisticated way, most logistics businesses are capturing data on:
- Parcel details like size and weight
- Volume of deliveries, broken up by customer
- Vehicle data like model, distance driven, and fuel consumption
Together, all of this builds an accurate emissions measurement.
Putting this into a report for customers could look like:
- Volume of deliveries made
- Fuel consumed
- Carbon emissions to date
- Emission reduction measures taken, or emissions avoided/reduced
If this sounds overwhelming or unrealistic, you might be surprised to find you already have a lot of it. The biggest preparation for being able to do this reporting is not actually collecting more data, it’s cleaning up the data you do have.
Supply chain transparency
Transparency in the supply chain means knowing your suppliers upstream, as well as being open about your own business processes and vendors. Harvard Business Review explains supply chain transparency maturity across two axis:
- Internal operations
- Suppliers
- Indirect suppliers
- Raw materials
And
- Code of conduct
- Standards and certifications
- Performance based metrics
- Traceability
- Disclosure
The more of these you have, the more mature your supply chain transparency is. The simpler your business is, the less complicated this is.
Using data as your competitive advantage
You don’t have to start with everything. Offering even a small amount of data can put you ahead of your competition when bidding for a new customer. If ESG data is out of reach, you can always put forward your performance metrics, like customer satisfaction, DIFOT, or time to deliver.
It’s important to highlight more than just your price when it comes to what you offer. Consider getting testimonials from some of your customers, and ask them questions about more than just performance, what it’s like to work with you or whether you’re able to provide expert advice.
Adiona’s EmissionSense is a platform designed for ESG reporting in the logistics industry, specifically for last mile delivery. If this is of interest, get in touch.
