We know that competition is heating up in the e-commerce space, especially from those who are already in this business from a long time but do not have an identity of their own. For example, there are companies like FedEx who have been handling logistics for all these companies such as Amazon and Walmart as well as others so they know this business is operated but don’t have an e-commerce platform of their own. Now, it is to be noted that FedEx has also entered the e-commerce space with the launch of a new portal named FDX Today. TechCrunch reports that “The platform will likely compete against Amazon by offering merchants services like demand generation, fulfillment, tracking, and post-purchase experiences including returns”.
A spokesperson for FedEx said “We’re not in the business of the marketplace. We’re trying to help businesses build the best possible experience from demand to post-purchase. We provide them the digital capabilities and insights and they own the experience with their consumer”. The company said “merchants could use FedEx’s services such as ShopRunner — an e-commerce platform it acquired in 2020 — to reach customers, show estimated delivery time on websites, handle carts, track packages, record the carbon emission impact of deliveries, and manage returns”.
FedEx also said “FDX is currently in private preview with plans for a wider launch in fall 2024. Businesses can register their interest in trying it out through a form. The company didn’t mention any brands that are part of the pilot program”. It is likely that the current companies see this as a competition and wouldn’t like to join the program but we are sure that there would be a lot of companies that would join hands with FedEx to ensure that their logistics part is sorted. Also worth noting is that FedEx, during its announcement, said a lot of things such as “data-driven,” “digitally-led” and “end-to-end e-commerce solution for businesses of all sizes” regarding its platform but failed to actually announce details regarding how it will work and what they are doing to compete with the likes of Amazon and others. For that, we will have to wait and see.
