As e-commerce and the gig economy have grown in the past year, the thirst for news and information has grown among the participants. Whether it is shippers moving online orders to consumers, or rideshare drivers supplementing declining volumes with on-demand food delivery, there is growing activity and interest in the space.
To help fill this information void, FreightWaves is launching Modern Shipper. Modern Shipper, which can be found at www.modernshipper.com, will sit squarely alongside both FreightWaves and its sister brand American Shipper, giving all who participate within the supply chain access to end-to-end data, news and information, regardless of their place in the process.
“We’ve all experienced the importance of the gig economy in the past year, and it is obvious that moving forward, on-demand and last-mile delivery is going to be as important in the final shipment of goods as any other part of the supply chain,” said Craig Fuller, founder and CEO of FreightWaves. “Modern Shipper fills an important void in the space by providing everyone from the shipper to the end consumer with information and insight that is needed in the segment. FreightWaves and American Shipper are world-class media outlets, and we couldn’t be more proud to expand into the all-important gig economy segment with Modern Shipper.”
The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted how important the gig economy is to society. Without last-mile and on-demand drivers, the rapid rise in e-commerce would not have been possible. According to payments firm daVinci Payments, the gig economy grew 33% in 2020 to $1.6 trillion. Global e-commerce transactions were up 24% in December 2020 compared to 2019, according to ACI Worldwide (NASDAQ: ACIQ). For all of 2020, global e-commerce sales rose 27.6% to more than $4 trillion, eMarketer reported.
Modern Shipper’s focus includes the emerging final-mile segment of delivery, direct-to-consumer, e-commerce and on-demand delivery. From recruiting to regulations, from payment platforms to back-office and app technologies, from autonomous to electric vehicles — and even drones — Modern Shipper has the space covered.
Brian Straight, who has worked in the transportation space for nearly 15 years, will lead the publication. Straight was the original editorial employee at the launch of freightwaves.com.
“Having been involved early on with the launch of freightwaves.com, I’ve seen firsthand the importance of providing quality content to the audience. Modern Shipper is a natural extension of what Craig and his team have built with FreightWaves, and I’m excited to be a part of bringing the FreightWaves spirit and effort to this space,” Straight said.
Modern Shipper’s content will be separate from FreightWaves, giving participants in the space their own voice. Modernshipper.com features the latest news, trends and analysis. It will also provide a vehicle for expressing interesting viewpoints on current topics or trends.
Anyone interested in contributing can contact Brian Straight at [email protected] for more information.
Readers can also sign up for the soon-to-launch Modern Shipper newsletter, and of course, follow Modern Shipper on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram and Twitter (@ModernShipper).
If you have a news tip or a story you think the Modern Shipper audience will be interested in, you can also send those to Brian Straight at [email protected].
Modern Shipper will leverage all the power of FreightWaves, including providing access to FreightWavesTV, FreightCasts podcasts, live and virtual events, and the FreightWaves job board. In addition, FreightWaves offers exclusive products, including SONAR, the company’s freight market data platform that offers data on the freight markets, and Passport Research, FreightWaves’ subscription-based research product.
