If freight forwarding were a high school, small and mid-sized forwarders would be the scrappy underdogs. Less budget, fewer resources, but often the ones actually doing their homework – and staying late to help customers out of a jam.
But even the scrappy underdog needs a good tech stack. Especially now.
Because while the industry still values the personal shipper-forwarder relationship, customers also increasingly appreciate clicks, instead of callbacks. And if you’re not offering digital quoting, booking, and shipment management? You’re not just missing out – you’re handing your lunch to the guy with a chatbot.
Let’s dig into why small forwarders are actually the best positioned to ride the digital wave – and how they can do it without ghosting their customers.
Fragmented Market, Big Opportunity
The freight forwarding world isn’t dominated by a few monoliths. Far from it. There are an estimated 300,000+ freight forwarders globally, and while the freight giants (DHL, K+N, DB Schenker) grab headlines, the vast majority of the industry is powered by small to mid-sized players.
Same goes for customers. SMBs make up 97.2% of all exporters in the U.S. (U.S. Census Bureau, 2023).
Yet here’s the kicker: while about two-thirds of LSPs surveyed now offer instant ocean quotes, only 38% make those quotes easily available to anyone. The rest keep them gated — requiring account setup, document vetting, or even a phone interview — before a shipper can see a rate.
In other words: instant quoting is becoming the norm — but for new, unvetted shippers, they’re still stuck filling out a form and waiting for a callback like it’s 2005.
Compare that with what digital-forwarders are doing:
- 100% of digital-first forwarders offer instant quotes across ocean freight, with some also offering LCL and air.
- And more than 80% of those also let you do things like book online, add customs, insurance, and track shipments via sleek dashboards that scream “we didn’t build this in Excel.”
In short: more and more forwarders are selling online – and small forwarders are perfectly positioned to go digital too.
Scale Smarter, Not Colder: Digital Doesn’t Mean Less Personal
Let’s be real: nobody got into freight forwarding for the joy of retyping shipment details into twenty tabs.
Digital quoting tools don’t kill relationships – they kill repetitive admin work.
Technology should make the shipper-LSP relationship smoother, not colder. It can’t waive a surcharge or get your cargo on an overbooked plane – but it can make sure the paperwork is correct when it does.
– Mark Chadwick, President, Global Shippers Association
And guess what? Customers actually like self-service.
They just don’t like only self-service.
Done right, digital quoting becomes the first step in a low-touch, high-efficiency customer journey – not a replacement for your team’s superpower.
In our research:
- 58% of instant quote platforms now show CO₂ emissions, because sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have.”
- 83% of LSPs with instant quoting offer multiple pricing options, not just “take it or leave it” rates.
- And forwarders like Shipafreight and UPS let customers filter by carrier, number of stops, and even provide pop-up feedback surveys during the booking process.
UPS even asks, “How’s our pricing?” mid-booking. That’s either bold or brave, but either way, it’s uniquely digital.
Why SMB Forwarders Can’t Sit This One Out
Here’s what we’re seeing:
- In 2021, only 20% of forwarders gated their online quoting tools.
- In 2024, that number jumped to 65% and half of those require a lengthy vetting process to approve new customers.Translation? Digital tools are here – they’re just hidden behind velvet ropes.
That creates a golden opportunity. While many big forwarders are gating tools to preserve existing relationships, SMB forwarders can offer frictionless digital access to the long tail of SMB shippers who just want a quote before lunch, not a call after dinner.
And the barriers to entry? Shrinking fast.
Thanks to plug-and-play quoting software, even the smallest forwarder can now offer tools that rival billion-dollar competitors – without needing to hire a dev team or sell a kidney.
Supercharge your operations with instant air freight pricing, digital door-to-door quoting, online self-service sales and more
Best Practices: Go Digital Without Losing Your Freight Soul
Digital doesn’t mean distant. Here’s how to scale with soul:
1. Reply to Emails with a Quote + CTA
If a shipper emails you for a rate, great. Reply fast. But include a shiny “Book Now” button that whisks them into your digital journey.
Pro tip: Some forwarders now use AI to read inbound quote emails and trigger an automated quote reply – instant, accurate, and still personal.
2. Offer Carrots (And Maybe a Stick)
Encourage platform use with promo codes, faster response times, or fee-free ancillary services. One digital forwarder gave new users a $300 discount coupon for first-time bookings.
Hey, Amazon built an empire on free shipping.
3. Use the Data You Didn’t Know You Had
Digital quoting creates a customer trail you can learn from.
Which filters do they use? Where do they drop off? What services are they ignoring?
UPS’s pop-up survey during checkout asks who you’re comparing them to. That’s B2B espionage – politely.
4. Automate the Routine, Humanize the Rest
Let the platform handle the quote. Let your team handle the exceptions, the escalations, and the calls that start with “I’m freaking out.”
That’s how you scale trust – not just bookings.
Digital quoting, human touch. Watch how top LSPs are doing both in 2025.
Closing Container: It’s Not the Tech. It’s How You Use It.
If you’re a small forwarder, you already compete on speed, agility, and personal service. Digital tools don’t replace that – they amplify it.
Because when you’re spending less time building quotes by hand, you have more time to focus on what really builds loyalty: calling shippers when things go wrong, getting creative when capacity tightens, and being the human at the other end of the screen.
That’s the sweet spot: digital on the surface, human underneath.
So don’t let the big guys gatekeep digital.
Be the forwarder who answers faster, books smarter, and still remembers the customer’s dog’s name.
Because if your quoting tool isn’t easy to find, your next customer might not find you.
