Freight companies bid on the shipment, posting the prices that they are willing to charge to carry the cargo.
Auctions only work if there is volume.
The Manhattan-based company, whose offices overlook the container ships in New York harbor, felt its skilled sales and account management team needed to concentrate on relationship management, a strategic corporate role, according to Marc Rappaport, vice president, trading and operations. However, telemarketing, advertising and direct mail, though important, are not the anchors of its client acquisition strategy. So the shipping exchange decided to outsource its telemarketing efforts to CS Direct, a Buffalo, New York outsourcing provider. CS Direct's job is to inform companies with ocean bound shipments to check out GoCargo's Web site. Once they became members of the exchange, the in-house sales staff takes over to attempt to create customers for life.