A dynamic pricing solution where LTL carriers can create rules to automate lane specials when providing rates has merely been a theory – until now.
Banyan Technology, North America’s leading provider of live carrier and API connectivity for transportation management, has created Intelligent Pricing. This dynamic pricing tool allows LTL carriers to offer additional discounts to their existing customers to win more shipments.
But how did Banyan bring this seemingly-elusive functionality to the marketplace and how can dynamic pricing help carriers secure more business?
How Intelligent Pricing works
For over 18 years Banyan’s Live Connections API platform has been connecting shippers and 3PLs to their preferred carriers in real time. This enables carriers to provide faster and more efficient freight rating, tendering, and tracking as well as gather critical client and competitive intel.
Intelligent Pricing takes the functionality of Live Connections beyond the limits of other API providers. Leveraging this unique tool, carriers can take client intel gathered within their API-powered system and offer client- and contract-specific pricing adjustments. These adjustments appear directly within the customer’s workflow as a Live Lane Special to be selected in real time.
Carriers build custom rules and conditions within their Intelligent Pricing dashboard based on load attributes and/or client behaviors they wish to target.
Under What Condition(s)?
LTL Carriers create Live Lane Specials to target a wide or narrow portion of shipments from their current customers. Specials contain rules built to consider shipment conditions to determine when a Live Lane Special discount should be applied. Conditions around key load attributes are simple, based on black-and-white shipment data. Carriers define rules in order of priority to automatically include or exclude a shipment for discounts based on factors such as:
- Zip Code Range – Origin or Destination
- Total Shipment Weight
- Day of the Week – Pickup
- Pallet Counts
- Pick-ups per location
- Account codes
- Density
- Accessorials
- And many more
Ultimately, these rules help carriers procure the type of freight they want to move to and from the places they want to move it!
Shipper Based Behavior
Intelligent Pricing is open to any shipment for which the carrier has contracted pricing. Banyan presents the carrier with the ability to see current shipper activity creating a Load Density Factor. The Load Density Factor considers how many shipments the carrier picks up each time they perform a pickup from a location.
Carriers can choose to include or exclude specific shippers based on a mix of the physical location, account number, and the Load Density Factor just to name a few.
Carriers can also couple shipper-based rules with shipment-based rules to win freight which operates well within their networks and/or to fill empty space on backhaul lanes to maximize the driver, fuel and asset utilization. By adding revenue into previously empty lanes, the carrier helps to spread overhead sunk costs which improves operating ratios and profitability creating a win-win for carrier and shipper.
Custom Discounts and Caps
The final factor is the ability to control what discounts are applied to the desired shipments. That is where the Actions portion of Intelligent Pricing kicks in.
Actions provide the carrier options to offer custom discounts, customized quote number modification along with custom caps. These actions are applied when the shipper and shipment qualifications are met. Some of these include:
- Flat fee discount – $x.xx price reduction off Total or Linehaul
- % Adjustment – xx% price reduction off Total or Linehaul
- Time definite – Apply or Restrict discounts to Time Definite or Guaranteed offerings
- Shipment quantity – Control number of shipments to fill open space
- Cubic capacity – Control size of shipments you wish to quote
- Quote value – Cap the revenue booked by one special
As for capping lane specials, you can create limits based on the number of rules reached or dollar amount reached. You can also prevent lane discounts from showing to any shippers awarded that lane within a recent time period.
Regardless of the method of applying or restricting lane specials, carriers using Intelligent Pricing retain full control over the final rate despite the automated nature of the tool.
What Intelligent Pricing can do for your carrier operation
Intelligent Pricing gives carriers the ability to manage yield by adjusting at the lane level to a filtered cross section of their client base in a LIVE environment. This helps secure more of the freight types wanted and less of those that aren’t optimal for a carrier’s business.
Furthermore, when operational inputs and business logic supplement these capabilities, the carrier’s operation benefits from unprecedented visible and actionable business opportunities.
The Bottom Line
No other API provider can compete with Banyan’s Live Connections API hub when utilized to its full potential. Being equipped with Intelligent Pricing and Live API connections will position you ahead of the competition and position your operation to gain efficiency.
Want to learn more?
Contact Banyan Technology to learn more about how to use our carrier solutions to:
- Leverage tools to increase operational efficiency
- Gather intel on how you’re relating to customers, including competitive data
- Create custom dynamic pricing rules to provide competitive rates and land more business
Todd Fain
Senior Vice President, Carrier Solutions
Cell: (864) 325-8764
Email: tfain@banyantechnology.com