Supplier Reach

You send a freight quote request to 8 suppliers.

By the end of day one you have 1, maybe 2 quotes. (10-20%)

On day two 3 more arrive. (30%) After that it trickles. Final response rate: 50-60%.

So 4 or 5 of your 8 suppliers never reply at all.

What that means in practice: you think you're comparing 8 quotes. You're comparing 5. What you call "the market rate" is half the market. The more uncomfortable part is timing. If your customer needs an answer the same day, you have to decide on the 1-2 quotes in hand. Supplier selection stops being a price comparison and becomes a speed lottery. Whoever replied first wins the job.

And then this: fewer than 5% of replies include more than one option. Almost no supplier says "there's also a routing that's four days slower but $300 cheaper." One price, one line, that's it. Which is odd, because offering alternatives serves the supplier too — that's where the lost job gets won back.

Who fills the gap? Your team. Reminder emails, phone calls, WhatsApp. Every quote request generates its own chase-up job.

And to be fair, some of the blame sits with us: a request sent without a clear deadline, in an unstructured email, may not deserve a reply.

I'd like to know how this looks on your side: → How many suppliers reply within one day? → When you set a deadline, how many respect it? → How many do you end up chasing? → Do any of your suppliers quote with alternatives? The numbers vary a lot by destination country, so comparing in the comments would be useful.