What's the right time to introduce pricing?
Too early
Core functions still under development; pricing built prematurely without right cost assessement may misalign with long term goals
Right Time
Core infrastructure in place (data, automation, workflows) and pricing becomes multiplier.
Too late
Pricing is introduced reactively to fix profitability issues, making pricing a transactional action with focus on issue rather than foundation*.
* Example: Uber Freight continues to face profitability challenges, and in response, is making major investments in AI-driven pricing and optimization systems. Publicly, the company has shared details of its algorithmic pricing work (including Markov Decision Process models) and is developing enterprise-grade rate management capabilities.
From an internal industry standpoint, Uber Freight has also been strengthening its pricing expertise by bringing in senior pricing talent from FedEx as its known for one of the most sophisticated end-to-end pricing systems in the logistics industry (internally referred to as P01).
Market
Timing
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Freightos is already embedding AI-rate intelligence and lane-level margin scoring into its quoting tools.
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Flexport has publicly acknowledged margin pressure amid volatile carrier rates and macro trade risk. To address this, its 2025 product updates include new tools for margin protection and cost visibility, such as tariff simulation and landed-cost insights
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Project44 and FourKites have started layering cost-to-serve analytics into their shipper visibility platforms.
Sources
https://www.flexport.com/technology/product-release/fall-2025/?utm_source
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/project44-unveils-intelligent-tms-a-new-era-of-agile-ai-driven-freight-management-for-modern-supply-chains-302532754.html
https://www.fourkites.com/platform/real-time-visibility/advanced-analytics/