Geodis Chief Emphasizes Importance of Customers Across Business Lines

France’s Geodis is on a mission to boost its operating income margin from 3.8% to 6% of global revenue in the next three years. This goal is part of the company’s ambitious plan called Ambition 2027.
Despite facing stable or declining sales, which is quite a contrast from the peak sales during the exceptional period of 2021-2022, Geodis is determined to make significant progress.
In the first half of the current year, Geodis saw an 8.6% decline in revenue, dropping to €5.54bn ($5.72bn). CEO Marie-Christine Lombard shared insights into Geodis’ strategy in an interview with French media, with comments echoed by a Geodis spokesperson to The Loadstar.
“We anticipate sales growth and aim to translate recovered volumes into increased earnings,” Lombard explained.
To achieve this, Geodis plans to deepen its collaboration with key customers in understanding their supply chain strategies, foreseeing changes, and tailoring their offerings accordingly.
But there are challenges ahead, such as possible tariffs on products by the incoming US president, Donald Trump, which may impact global trade flows.
Geodis specializes in four main business lines: global freight forwarding, global contract logistics, distribution & express transport, and European road haulage. Lombard highlighted the importance of offering end-to-end solutions rather than just point-to-point services to ensure growth in freight forwarding.
Interestingly, out of Geodis’ 120,000 customers, only 82,000 are active, and just 47 of them utilize all four business lines. Lombard sees potential here, noting that there is room to expand sales by encouraging customers to explore and benefit from all of Geodis’ service offerings.
As part of their Ambition 2027 plan, Geodis is integrating new digital tools to enhance the efficiency of its 2,000 sales staff. These software solutions developed by US-based Salesforce will streamline customer interactions and allow for real-time quoting across Geodis’ business lines.
Although Geodis has recently made targeted acquisitions like Need it Now Delivers and Trans-o-flex, aiming to serve customers better with fewer subcontractors and increased control over operations, a large-scale transformative acquisition is not in the current plans.
When asked about industry consolidation and Geodis’ market position, the company remained tight-lipped, reinforcing its importance as a strategic subsidiary of SNCF. The company is focused on maintaining a customer-centric approach and optimizing its services to secure a strong market position moving forward.