How shippers use freight market intelligence to reduce transportation costs
Independent Nucleus Research found that enterprise shippers using DAT consistently improve procurement decisions, reduce transportation spend, and strengthen budgeting accuracy through market-based freight benchmarking. Organizations across manufacturing, consumer goods, retail, grocery, and building materials industries achieved 5–15% sourcing savings by replacing internal assumptions with independently verified freight market data. This page summarizes the research findings—and how leading enterprise shippers apply freight market intelligence across procurement, budgeting, and network strategy decisions.
Freight market intelligence for enterprise shippers
Transportation costs are one of the largest controllable expenses in a supply chain. For enterprise shippers, the difference between average and high-performing transportation programs often comes down to one thing: access to independent, lane-level market data.
Transportation teams are operating in a market defined by volatility, tighter budgets, and increasing pressure to defend decisions with data. Internal historical rates and carrier-provided pricing are no longer enough to benchmark freight spend, validate contracts, or confidently forecast transportation budgets.
As freight markets shift, enterprise shippers need a trusted external reference point to benchmark rates, evaluate procurement strategies, and improve cross-functional decision-making.
Independent Nucleus Research interviewed DAT customers across manufacturing, consumer goods, retail, grocery, and building materials industries to understand how shippers use market intelligence to reduce freight costs.
The findings were consistent: organizations embedding DAT into procurement and budgeting workflows achieved measurable savings, stronger negotiation leverage, and better alignment across logistics, procurement, and finance.
Key takeaways
- Enterprise shippers using DAT consistently achieved 5–15% sourcing savings through freight rate benchmarking during annual and mid-cycle sourcing events
- Henkel achieved approximately $1.5M in annual transportation cost avoidance using DAT benchmarking and forecasting tools
- Colgate-Palmolive achieved up to 10% savings on long-term supplier agreements by validating embedded freight costs and CPU discounts against market benchmarks
- Organizations consistently reported improved cross-functional alignment between logistics, procurement, and finance
- Shippers who embed DAT as a strategic planning input—rather than a reactive rate lookup—realize the greatest sustained ROI
In this guide
- How to reduce transportation costs
- What is freight market intelligence?
- What the research found
- How shippers use freight market intelligence
- Customer examples
- Frequently asked questions (FAQs)
How to reduce transportation costs
For enterprise shippers managing complex freight networks, reducing transportation costs requires more than route optimization or load consolidation. Those tactics help at the margin. The bigger opportunity is procurement: knowing whether the rates you’re paying reflect actual market conditions.
The most effective freight cost reduction strategies share a common foundation: independent market data. When transportation teams can compare contracted rates and carrier proposals against verified lane-level benchmarks, they stop paying above-market rates, enter negotiations with defensible targets, and catch cost creep between annual sourcing cycles.
DAT freight market intelligence gives enterprise shippers that foundation. The sections below explain how.
What is freight market intelligence?
Freight market intelligence is the use of external freight market data, capacity insights, and market trend analysis to inform transportation procurement decisions, benchmark freight costs, and support organizational planning.
Unlike internal rate histories or carrier-provided pricing, freight market intelligence gives transportation teams an objective external reference point. It allows organizations to:
- Validate whether contracted rates reflect actual market conditions
- Identify lanes where transportation costs exceed market norms
- Forecast transportation budgets based on market direction rather than historical assumptions
- Enter carrier negotiations with data that cannot be disputed as internally biased
DAT delivers market intelligence through freight rate benchmarking, lane-level performance comparison, and forecasting capabilities that help shippers anticipate market shifts before they affect procurement outcomes.
Freight intelligence is transforming logistics by giving transportation teams access to independently verified market data that shifts decision-making from reactive to strategic. Organizations that embed external benchmarks into procurement and planning workflows can validate rates, anticipate market shifts, and align logistics, procurement, and finance on a shared set of facts.
What the research found
5–15% sourcing savings
Organizations using DAT during annual sourcing events and mid-cycle rate reviews consistently reported 5–15% reductions in transportation spend. Savings were achieved by entering carrier negotiations with independently verified market benchmarks that could not be disputed as internally generated or carrier-influenced.
Better procurement decisions
Shippers with access to lane-level market data made faster, more confident procurement decisions. Transportation teams validated carrier pricing, identified overpriced lanes, and set defensible freight RFP targets—reducing the risk of awarding freight contracts at above-market rates.
Stronger budgeting accuracy
Organizations using DAT forecasting tools aligned transportation budgets to expected market conditions rather than prior-year actuals. Finance and logistics teams reported fewer year-end budget variances and stronger confidence in presenting freight cost projections to executive stakeholders.
Improved cross-functional alignment
A shared external benchmark gave logistics, procurement, and finance teams a common reference for freight rate health, budget planning, and supplier performance. Organizations reported smoother budgeting cycles, fewer internal disputes, and more consistent communication during sourcing events. For shippers looking to justify transportation costs to finance leaders, independently verified market benchmarks provide the most credible evidence—translating lane-level freight complexity into financial context that non-logistics stakeholders can evaluate.
How shippers use freight market intelligence
Nucleus Research identified four primary application areas where enterprise shippers consistently apply DAT market intelligence to improve transportation performance.
Freight benchmarking
Knowing how to benchmark freight rates effectively starts with access to independent, lane-level market data. Shippers use DAT to benchmark spot rates, contract rates, supplier-managed freight, customer pickup (CPU) discounts, and lane-level transportation performance. Organizations use freight benchmarking to:
- Validate carrier pricing against current market benchmarks before accepting contract terms
- Set target rates for freight RFP events based on real market conditions
- Challenge incumbent carriers when proposed rates diverge from market norms
- Conduct mid-cycle rate reviews when markets shift between annual sourcing events
Transportation procurement
A sound freight procurement strategy depends on independent market data. Shippers who understand how to negotiate freight rates from a data-backed position consistently achieve better contract outcomes—validating carrier proposals, reducing overpayment risk, and conducting mid-cycle rate reviews against current benchmarks. Organizations reference lane-level data when evaluating freight RFP responses, mid-cycle rate adjustment requests, and inbound freight charges embedded in supplier agreements. One organization maintained freight costs 5–6% below market averages through weekly lane-level benchmarking and systematic identification of overpriced lanes.
Budgeting and forecasting
For transportation teams forecasting freight costs for annual budgets and long-range planning, the key input is independently verified market rate data across key lanes and modes. Teams use DAT to prepare annual budgets, monitor market direction, evaluate volatility exposure, and support executive reporting. Organizations that anchor projections to external market benchmarks rather than prior-year actuals report fewer year-end variances and stronger credibility with finance stakeholders.
Network strategy and planning
Several organizations also use lane-level benchmarking and regional market intelligence to support distribution network planning, fleet utilization decisions, plant and DC placement analysis, and cost-to-serve optimization. Organizations in this category use DAT as a strategic planning input—informing make-vs-buy decisions on capacity, fleet strategy, and supplier network design—rather than purely as a real-time rate lookup.
Customer examples
Henkel
Henkel, a global manufacturing and consumer goods organization with three distinct North American supply chains, embedded DAT into its procurement and sourcing workflows to benchmark lane-level pricing, support carrier negotiations, and structure a gain-share/pain-share contract model with mid-year pricing reviews.
Result: ∼$1.5M in annual transportation cost avoidance. Nucleus Research noted that Henkel realized the greatest value by treating DAT as a strategic input into ongoing procurement governance—not a static benchmarking tool.
Colgate-Palmolive
Colgate-Palmolive used DAT to validate supplier-managed freight costs and customer pickup (CPU) discounts against market benchmarks. By referencing DAT rate data during contract negotiations, procurement teams achieved up to 10% savings on certain long-term supplier agreements.
DAT became the organization’s standard reference for transportation pricing across logistics, procurement, and finance. The shared benchmark reduced internal disputes and strengthened negotiation leverage across teams.
Building materials manufacturer
One building materials manufacturer with more than 1,000 North American locations used DAT to benchmark lane costs, rebalance fleet utilization, and integrate transportation benchmarks into Power BI dashboards.
Following a shift from 80% brokered capacity to 80% asset-based operations, the organization achieved approximately 29% transportation savings (∼$129M).
Benchmark beyond assumptions
Independent research validates what high-performing transportation teams already know: objective freight market intelligence is the foundation of defensible procurement decisions, accurate transportation budgets, and stronger carrier negotiations.
Organizations that embed external benchmarking into standard workflows—rather than using it reactively—achieve broader and more sustained financial impact. Download the full Nucleus Research guidebook for complete customer profiles, methodology, and detailed findings.
FAQs
A few things you might be asking yourself
Enterprise shippers reduce transportation costs most effectively through freight rate benchmarking, data-backed carrier negotiations, and systematic mid-cycle rate reviews. Rather than relying on internal rate history or carrier-provided pricing, leading organizations compare contracted rates and RFP responses against independently verified lane-level market data. This approach identifies overpriced lanes, sets defensible procurement targets, and prevents cost creep between annual sourcing cycles. Nucleus Research found that shippers using DAT consistently achieved 5–15% savings during annual and mid-cycle sourcing events.
Freight benchmarking is the process of comparing transportation rates, lane performance, and freight costs against broader market data to validate pricing and improve procurement decisions. External benchmarks give transportation teams an objective reference that cannot be influenced by any party in the freight transaction. Shippers use freight benchmarking to enter carrier negotiations with defensible data, set accurate RFP targets, and ensure contracted rates remain competitive as market conditions change.
Freight cost savings come from three areas: procurement strategy, lane-level benchmarking, and carrier pricing validation. Organizations achieve the greatest savings when they validate all carrier pricing, including inbound supplier-managed freight and CPU discounts, against independent market benchmarks. One DAT customer maintained freight costs 5–6% below market averages through weekly lane-level benchmarking alone.
Shippers use freight market intelligence to benchmark rates, reduce transportation costs, improve negotiations, forecast budgets, validate supplier pricing, and reduce exposure to market volatility. Organizations that embed external market data into procurement and planning workflows make more defensible decisions and achieve more consistent financial outcomes. Nucleus Research found that shippers using DAT consistently achieved 5–15% savings during annual and mid-cycle sourcing cycles.
The four primary transportation cost categories for enterprise shippers are linehaul rates, fuel surcharges, accessorial charges, and inbound or supplier-managed freight. Linehaul rates, what you pay per mile per lane, typically drive the largest savings opportunity because small percentage differences across high-volume lanes compound quickly. Fuel surcharges and accessorials can also be validated against market norms, and inbound freight embedded in supplier contracts is frequently benchmarked at above-market rates without the buyer’s knowledge.
Spot benchmarking evaluates real-time market pricing for freight transacted outside of contracted rates. Contract benchmarking compares long-term awarded freight rates against broader market conditions and historical trends to determine whether contracted rates remain competitive. Most enterprise shippers use both: spot benchmarking to inform tactical decisions and identify immediate savings opportunities, and contract benchmarking to validate long-term sourcing strategy and support annual RFP rate-setting.
An external benchmark from DAT provides logistics, procurement, and finance teams with a shared, objective reference for freight rate health, budget expectations, and supplier performance. Before adopting an external standard, many organizations relied on fragmented data—internal spreadsheets, carrier-provided pricing—that different teams interpreted differently. Organizations using DAT as their standard benchmark report smoother budgeting cycles, fewer internal disputes, and cleaner communication during RFP events.
Transportation teams use DAT forecasting tools and historical market benchmarks to build budgets aligned to expected market conditions rather than prior-year actuals. When markets move unexpectedly, DAT data helps organizations explain cost changes to finance and executive stakeholders with independent market evidence. For shippers looking to quantify risk from market volatility, the most useful inputs are historical rate trends by lane and mode, forward-looking rate projections, and capacity indicators that signal when conditions are shifting before they affect contracted rates or service levels.
Shippers validate freight rates against the real market by comparing carrier-provided pricing and contracted rates against independently sourced lane-level benchmarks. External freight market data—drawn from actual transactions across thousands of lanes—provides an objective reference that no party in the transaction can dispute as internally biased. Organizations apply this validation before accepting freight RFP responses, during mid-cycle rate reviews, and when evaluating inbound freight charges embedded in supplier agreements.
See the full Nucleus Research findings
See how enterprise shippers are using DAT to reduce transportation costs, improve procurement decisions, and strengthen budget confidence. Download the full Nucleus Research guidebook for complete customer profiles, methodology, and detailed findings.
Reduce transportation costs with DAT
5–15% sourcing savings, independently validated
Documented results from customers across key industries
Benchmarking methodology you can apply immediately
