Introduction

Land in sight again at last! More and more easing of restrictions is being adopted every week. Germany feels like it is back on the road to normality.

However, it is already clear that it will be a “new normal”. But how should logistics providers and industry position themselves to take advantage of the new consumer and market trends after Covid-19? Here are three theses:

1. Over-the-counter sales are losing importance

The coronavirus has made the home office the new headquarters for many, making customer visits almost impossible. This has affected the logistics industry, but also the mechanical engineering sector, for example, more than other more “digital” sectors such as the software industry. This is because logistics sales staff were used to driving many thousands of kilometers per month and attending regular meetings - not via Zoom or teams, but in person and on site.

At the height of the coronavirus crisis, they now had to come to terms with 0 km and 100% working from home and many came to the realization: “You can do it from home too.” The question of whether stationary sales teams are still necessary to the same extent is therefore more than justified. As a result, it is to be expected that sales organizations will be thinned out and certain customer groups will be served by a virtual sales team.

But how can this work? High-performance sales organizations are aware of the Pareto principle and apply it consistently, especially when it comes to team strength: 80 to 90 percent of sales are often generated by less than 20 percent of the responsible sales staff or key account managers. These customers still need to be looked after personally. The rest should be examined for their development potential. If this is manageable, the customers no longer necessarily need to be looked after personally, but could be looked after virtually from an office.

2. Far-sighted entrepreneurs are launching a digitalization and product offensive right now

The old chestnut “We have to focus on survival now” is hostile to customers. Because it is almost exclusively directed inwards. Decades ago, Warren Buffett advised that the best time to buy shares is when everyone is scared. Logistics companies should therefore invest right now.

The decisive factor for success in the “new normal” is how quickly companies recover. Because only the fast ones can take market share from their competitors.

High-performance organizations - and those who want to become one - are therefore using the crisis to consistently push ahead with overdue digitalization projects. These include, for example, the introduction of advanced tracking solutions or AI tools for better risk management. Many companies also boast that they know what their customers need. But this is no longer enough: today, it is important to anticipate hidden needs at an early stage or to create such demand from scratch as a company. Just think of the iPhone, the e-scooter or freight platforms. The prerequisite for this is that companies know all their customer touchpoints and incorporate them into product development. Porsche, for example, estimates that it has more than 350 (!) customer touchpoints.

3. Kostendisziplin ist wichtig, Innovationsdisziplin noch bedeutender

In recent decades, millions and millions of cost optimization projects in the shipping industry have led to critical parts or staff functions being manufactured by just one supplier or in just one region - predominantly in Asia. The downside of this strategy has now become very clear during the coronavirus crisis. Companies are also taking a high risk if more than half of their turnover comes from a few products that have been established on the market for a long time. If new products and services are missing from the portfolio, there is a high risk of becoming less profitable after coronavirus. This is because increasing commoditization and the further advance of the platform economy will put margins under pressure, making it important to seriously anchor innovation as a core competence in all areas of the company in the future. The goal: to open up new sources of revenue. There was an economic miracle after the Second World War. Perhaps we will experience a similar one in Germany when companies - and therefore also logistics companies - seriously rediscover experimentation and creative creativity. The prerequisite for this is to think long-term and say goodbye to the “good old days”.