60% of bookings to come from digital channels by 2025

Digital cargo booking is on pace to grow dramatically over the next three years, with almost 60% of air carrier bookings expected to come through digital channels by 2025. There is “near-universal agreement” among the global carriers surveyed that growth in digital sales will continue, according to the “Digital Sales Trajectory Report” released by cargo.one and management consulting firm Boston Consulting Group (BCG) in October. The report compiled surveys from dozens of global airlines. Digital booking has gone mainstream since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, digital bookings rose to 12% of total airfreight sales and jumped to 20% in 2021, double the level of 2019, according to the report. In 2022, digital sales are expected to approach 30%, Simson Demmer, vice president of partnerships at cargo.one, told Air Cargo World . [caption id="attachment_57133261" align="alignright" width="407"] Photo / Lufthansa[/caption] “The data reveals that 2022-2023 is indeed a pivotal period for digital progress,” Demmer said. “All carriers surveyed expected to sell online by 2023, and even those currently achieving 10% digital bookings today do expect rapid growth towards 20% to 30% digital channel share by 2023.” Respondents identified both organizational constraints and system limitations as the main barriers to progress, Demmer said, adding that some carriers were slow to adopt e-booking and other digital processes due to the misconception that digital sales growth is contingent on in-house technology investment. “The achievement of real-time pricing and capacity capabilities is a real game-changer for accelerating digital sales success, but rarely the first step,” he noted. See also: Tech takes off: Inside the digital adoption surge Learning curve The report also found evidence that the organizational and strategic change required to adopt digital sales involves a learning curve for employees that isn’t solved by technology investments alone. Despite more digitalization across the industry, there is an “increasing gap between digital sales leaders and followers,” Gabriele Ferri, managing director and partner at BCG, told Air Cargo World . “We could see a few front-runners that invested heavily in digital and launched the first web channels,” he said. “Yet, the vast majority still seem to rely on legacy sales methodology” such as capacity allotted to large blocks, seasonal or long-term contracts, high-friction and in-person negotiations, he added. For those looking to add digital booking capacity, BCG identified several investment opportunities, including change management, sales digitalization and workforce training, Ferri said. As digital bookings as a portion of total sales grow, so does available online capacity. Digital booking platform WebCargo by Freightos estimates its own available bookings now account for more than 50% of total air cargo capacity , calculated based on global scheduled, available tonne-kilometers (SATKs) and dividing the total SATKs of airlines available on WebCargo by the total industry SATKs, according to a Dec. 15 release. Carriers join cargo.one Meanwhile, cargo.one has added several new carriers to its platform in recent weeks, including Turkish Cargo and Avianca Cargo, which both joined in November. ITA Airways Cargo and Qatar Airways Cargo also joined the platform in October. Most recently, Saudia Cargo expanded its partnership with the platform and will add capacity from all existing and future markets to cargo.one, according to a Dec. 20 release.

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