When Click & Ship was launched in late 2021, it brought with it access to instant booking 24/7 and in many cases confirmation with just a few clicks of the mouse. ‘Click & Ship stayed true to our vision to become the world’s most customer-centric air cargo service brand through greater digitalisation,’ says Director Cargo Tom Owen.
Overall, feedback from users has been positive. Sapna Kumar, Cargo Global Partnerships Manager, Europe, highlights ease of use as one of the main strands of customer feedback. ‘The feedback tends to be positive and they find the tool very simple to use. They like the aesthetics of the interface and the reassurance of the instant confirmation when it’s available – and the swift response from our team when it isn’t.’
Dorothy Man, Cargo Business Development Specialist, Southwest Pacific, adds that customers have appreciated the logical navigation and the fact that ‘rates and availability are shown at the same time’. Rajesh Menon, Regional Head of Cargo, SAMEA, says this means that ‘customers do not have to cross-reference with rates sheets and that the correct price is built-in for agency-specific rates.’
The main benefits as cited by customers are listed below:
- Easy to access and use
- User-friendly
- Time-saving
- Robust
- Auto-generated emails when confirmation is not immediately available
- Instant availability of rates and flight schedules on one page
- Instant confirmation with the ‘green dot’
- 24/7 availability and access
- The list of alternative flight options
Man adds that one aviation customer described it as ‘one of the best online cargo-booking platforms in the market.’
Although there have been connectivity issues in some regions, the one thing that customers are asking for can be summed up in two words: ‘Batch’ and ‘Bookings’.
Will its appearance later next month make a difference for customers? ‘Yes, absolutely!’ says Ken Huang, Cargo Business Support Manager – Pricing and Performance in the Chinese Mainland. ‘Almost every customer we speak to expects this to be online as soon as possible.’
There is not long to wait.
Up to 16 bookings in one
Batch booking is ideal for customers with regular, frequent bookings across a time frame. Rather than making individual bookings, customers can make a series of bookings – up to 16 – in one, with the same ‘airline-ticket purchase’-style and simplicity, including using calendars and drop down menus to simplify the entire process.
On the first booking page there are tabs above the booking window where users have the options of clicking through to single or batch bookings.
‘As with single bookings, once you have entered the information, the desired flights and booking rate are shown, and where possible there will be immediate confirmation for multiple bookings if the flights allow for it,’ says Cargo Distribution Manager Jack Tai.
It is also possible to offset batch booking shipments using Cathay Cargo’s Fly Greener offset programme and add that total into the booking. Later this year, Fly Greener will include a subscription model.
In a further step to simplify the booking process, Tai adds, ‘Click & Ship can keep a batch booking as a template for use next time.’ This means that rather than re-entering all the data, it will just be a question of updating some cells like dates and dimensions. ‘This will save time for shipments that are similar in nature and have multiple air waybills in a day,’ says SAMEA’s Menon.
In a further step to simplify the booking process, Tai adds, ‘Click & Ship can keep a batch booking as a template for use next time.’ This means that rather than re-entering all the data, it will just be a question of updating some cells like dates and dimensions. ‘This will save time for shipments that are similar in nature and have multiple air waybills in a day,’ says SAMEA’s Menon.
Click & Ship around the regions
Menon’s region has seen a successful take up of Click & Ship since its introduction. Despite a reputation for paper-led bureaucracy, the pandemic meant that ‘low touch’ processes that digitalisation enables were keenly in demand. ‘Almost 90 per cent of our bookings come via the Click & Ship platform now,’ says Menon. ‘This has been achieved with focusing majorly on bookings to Hong Kong and small-sized shipments to all destinations, which has meant that the scope of auto-confirmation is almost 100 per cent.’
Only Taipei has achieved a higher rate at 98 per cent of bookings. Just behind is South East Asia. Siddhant Iyer, Regional Head of Cargo, who is based in Singapore, says: ‘In February, 97 per cent of bookings across the South East Asian region were placed with Click & Ship.’
The pattern is not the same the world over. Not only was the application rolled out at different times sequentially, but take-up has also been governed by the level of flight coverage during the pandemic.
‘In the Americas, we are up to about 25 per cent Click & Ship usage now, but when we lost a lot of our capacity over the past couple of years, agents that were using it would see that there wasn’t available capacity most of the time because of the flight reductions,’ says Vice-president Cargo, Americas, Fred Ruggierio. ‘Now our capacity is back, we’ll be promoting Click & Ship more. The only way to get people to change is if the new system is quicker, better and easier than people’s current system, and with the batch booking facility, Click & Ship is.’
Testimonials on Click & Ship
‘Click & Ship makes the booking process easier. We are able to select the required service and get confirmation in one page. I don’t have to wait for a response from Cathay Cargo and I can manage the booking by myself so it makes our work more convenient and faster.’
CTI Logistics Co. Ltd (Bangkok)
‘The nature of our industry means as agents/forwarders, we have to work overtime as well as the holidays if there are urgent enquiries from our customers. Sometimes, we need to make a booking after working hours. Click & Ship allows us to receive booking confirmation in a timely manner in order to meet the needs of our customers.’
Nippon Express Logistics Co. Ltd (BKK)
‘The booking system works well. It is fast, very easy to use and makes booking a breeze. Flights are easy to find and it also tells us the rate at time of booking. Compared to other carriers, Click and Ship system is the easiest system to use in my opinion. Additionally, the bookings confirm straight away, and that’s not always the case with other carriers.’
Towers International, Sydney
‘The EzyCargo system we use for booking is really easy to use because of its update with Click & Ship. We can quickly check and choose the products, the flight itinerary, and the next steps. Compared to the old system, where we had to manually enter the data, this is considerably better. We are grateful that scheduling and sending our items was so effortless.’
CC Shah & Sons, Mumbai
‘Click & Ship has helped our team in simplifying the booking procedure and reduces the number of follow ups to get confirmation as almost all bookings are auto-confirmed. The follow-ups for each booking and space confirmation is now a bare minimum. The interface has been very easy to use, quite interactive and informative.’
DSV, Delhi
