Market entry strategy for digital 'procure-to-pay' solution

Background

• The client, Mastercard, is a leading international financial institution which connects businesses, professionals and governments across the world, making payment safe and simple. Innovation is at the core of its strategy.
• Mastercard transformed the travel industry by bringing secure payment automation to the core of the customer experience.

Client Objectives

• The client wanted to evaluate the readiness of the container freight industry to adopt a value proposition for procure-to-pay automation that incorporates core Mastercard benefits such as payment guarantees.
• To support the market entry strategy, Mastercard enlisted Drewry to quantify the opportunity to help shape the value proposition for each customer segment.

Drewry Approach

• Drewry’s team, made of maritime and digital business experts, conducted the work in 3 steps:
  • Map current order-to-cash processes and quantify inefficiencies;
  • Develop detailed value propositions for the target configurations, stakeholders and regions, supported by analysis of the customer journey and pain points;
  • Evaluation of potential partners.
• Subsequent analysis of the container shipping ecosystems, supported by metrics and flowcharts, provided tools to evaluate and forecast the industry economics.
• The study looked at bankruptcies both from freight forwarder and carrier viewpoints. It described the current and emerging payment methods and their costs as well as analysing key industry challenges: establishing trust between parties, failing to deliver, the continuous search for efficiency improvements and the rise of e-marketplaces and automation.

Results Achieved

• Drewry quantified the inefficiencies and identified market segments where the Mastercard solution could apply:
  • Presented the order-to-cash process with a focus on procurement, invoicing and payment methods and highlighted the costly practice of Cash Against Documents; defined the range of opportunities and pre-requisites.
  • Identified the potential for disruption in terms of payment and service guarantee.
  • Completed competitive analysis in support of Mastercard partner strategy, contributing to execution of Mastercard partner agreement.
• Drewry’s market validation supported the decision of Mastercard to invest in solutions for the freight industry that enable industry players to benefit from a more automated and efficient procure-to-pay process that delivers end-to-end transparency and reconciliation.