TradeLensIQ
Executive Summary
Vision Statement
To democratize access to global trade data, enabling businesses of all sizes to make smarter, faster, and more transparent supply chain decisions.
Problem Summary
Global trade data—especially customs and shipment records for bulk commodities like steel—is notoriously fragmented, outdated, and hidden behind expensive paywalls or government silos. While consumer data is easily accessible, supply chain professionals and smaller businesses struggle to obtain actionable insights on who is buying, moving, or selling large volumes of goods. This lack of transparency not only creates an uneven playing field but also stifles market efficiency and innovation.
Proposed Solution
TradeLensIQ proposes a unified, real-time trade intelligence platform that aggregates customs and shipping data from multiple jurisdictions, overlays advanced search and analytics, and provides instant visibility into buyers, sellers, and shipment flows for bulk commodities. By leveraging both open-source and licensed data, the platform democratizes access, allowing users to search by product, company, region, or shipment volume, and receive up-to-date intelligence in an intuitive interface.
Market Analysis
Target Audience
The ideal user is a supply chain manager, procurement specialist, or business analyst at a mid-sized manufacturing, import/export, or logistics firm. These users are tasked with sourcing or selling bulk commodities (e.g., steel, chemicals, agricultural products) and need real-time insights into competitor activity, supplier reliability, and market trends. Secondary audiences include trade finance professionals, market researchers, and consultants seeking to track cross-border movements and identify new business opportunities.
Niche Validation
The Reddit post and its highly upvoted comments provide strong validation for the pain point: users repeatedly cite frustration with the opacity and fragmentation of trade data, referencing paywalls (e.g., Panjiva), limited access, and the advantage held by larger firms with expensive subscriptions. Several comments mention alternative tools—like ImportYeti—and the challenges of triangulating free, open-source data, confirming real unmet demand for a unified, user-friendly solution.
Google Trends Keywords
Market Size Estimation
The Serviceable Available Market (SAM) focuses on mid-sized enterprises in bulk commodities (steel, chemicals, agriculture) and trade advisors in key markets (US, EU, Asia). This segment likely includes 50,000–100,000 organizations with direct need for enhanced customs and shipment data.
The Serviceable Obtainable Market (SOM), targeting early adopters in North America and Europe, could realistically reach 2,000–5,000 paying organizations within the first 2–3 years, based on competitor benchmarks and adoption rates for SaaS intelligence platforms.
The Total Addressable Market (TAM) includes all global supply chain, trade, and procurement professionals seeking trade intelligence. According to Statista, there are over 500,000 firms worldwide engaged in cross-border trade, with millions of potential users across manufacturing, logistics, and consulting.
Competitive Landscape
Key competitors include Panjiva (owned by S&P Global), ImportYeti, Tendata, and Sea-peace/Frenzy. Panjiva offers extensive customs data but at a high price point (~$1,000/month), while ImportYeti provides a free search interface but with limited data depth. ImportYeti and similar tools rely on scraping and open-source data, often lacking the real-time analytics or global coverage desired by professionals. No platform currently offers a truly unified, real-time, and user-friendly experience spanning multiple jurisdictions and commodity flows. (Panjiva, ImportYeti)
Product Requirements
User Stories
As a supply chain manager, I want to search for recent steel imports by country, so I can identify potential suppliers or buyers.
As a procurement analyst, I want to receive alerts when a competitor increases their shipment volume, so I can respond proactively.
As a consultant, I want to export shipment data for analysis in Excel or BI tools.
As a logistics coordinator, I want to visualize shipment flows between regions in real-time.
MVP Feature Set
Unified search interface for customs and shipment data by product, company, or region.
Real-time and historical shipment tracking for key commodities (starting with steel).
Export capabilities (CSV, Excel) for search results.
Configurable alerts for shipment volume changes or new trade activity.
User authentication and tiered access controls.
Non-Functional Requirements
GDPR-compliant data handling and privacy controls.
99.5% uptime SLA.
Scalable infrastructure to handle large data volumes and spikes in usage.
Role-based access and audit logging.
Key Performance Indicators
Monthly active users (MAU)
Number of searches and exports performed
Conversion rate from free to paid tier
Average time to deliver new customs data
User retention rate after 3 and 6 months
Data Visualizations
Visual Analysis Summary
The global trade intelligence SaaS market is dominated by a few high-cost incumbents, with significant demand for more accessible, real-time solutions. The following chart illustrates the pricing and feature differentiation among leading platforms, highlighting the opportunity for a user-friendly, affordable entrant.
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Go-to-Market Strategy
Core Marketing Message
Stop flying blind in global trade. TradeLensIQ gives you instant access to the buyers, sellers, and shipments that shape your market—no more paywalls, no more guesswork.
Initial Launch Channels
- Launch on Product Hunt to reach early SaaS adopters and analysts.
- Targeted posts and AMAs in r/supplychain, r/logistics, and LinkedIn groups for trade professionals.
- Direct outreach to supply chain consultancies and industry newsletters.
Strategic Metrics
Problem Urgency
High
Solution Complexity
High
Defensibility Moat
Defensibility will rely on data aggregation partnerships, proprietary normalization algorithms, and network effects as more users contribute feedback and data sources. Integrations with official customs APIs and real-time data feeds will be difficult for new entrants to replicate quickly.
Source Post Metrics
Business Strategy
Monetization Strategy
A freemium model: basic search and limited historical queries are free, while advanced analytics, export features, and real-time alerts require a monthly subscription. Tiered plans (e.g., $99, $299, $999/month) cater to small teams, enterprise users, and API access for integration with internal systems.
Financial Projections
Assuming 200 organizations convert to an average $299/month plan in Year 1, potential MRR is ~$60,000/month. With expansion to 1,000 organizations and upselling to higher tiers, MRR could exceed $300,000/month within 3 years.
Tech Stack
Python with FastAPI for efficient data processing, API integrations, and scalable microservices.
PostgreSQL for structured relational data and time-series extensions for shipment tracking.
Next.js for its robust SEO, server-side rendering, and rapid development of interactive dashboards.
Integration with customs APIs (where available), AWS S3 for scalable storage, Stripe for payments, and third-party data providers (e.g., Panjiva, ImportYeti) for initial data ingestion.
Risk Assessment
Identified Risks
- Data access risk: Customs and shipment data may be restricted or subject to licensing changes, impacting coverage.
- Technical complexity: Aggregating and normalizing data from diverse, sometimes unreliable sources is challenging.
Mitigation Strategy
- Establish multiple data partnerships and prioritize open-source data where possible; regularly review legal/compliance landscape.
- Invest in robust ETL pipelines, automated data quality checks, and iterative MVP releases to address technical hurdles early.