• Advertise
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
  • Supplier Directory
  • SCB YouTube
  • Login
  • Subscribe
  • Logout
  • My Profile

  • CORONAVIRUS
  • LOGISTICS
    • Air Cargo
    • All Logistics
    • Express/Small Shipments
    • Facility Location Planning
    • Freight Forwarding/Customs Brokerage
    • Global Gateways
    • Global Logistics
    • Last Mile Delivery
    • Logistics Outsourcing
    • LTL/Truckload Services
    • Ocean Transportation
    • Rail & Intermodal
    • Reverse Logistics
    • Service Parts Management
    • Transportation & Distribution
  • TECHNOLOGY
    • All Technology
    • Artificial Intelligence
    • Cloud & On-Demand Systems
    • Data Management (Big Data/IoT/Blockchain)
    • ERP & Enterprise Systems
    • Forecasting & Demand Planning
    • Global Trade Management
    • Inventory Planning/ Optimization
    • Product Lifecycle Management
    • Sales & Operations Planning
    • SC Finance & Revenue Management
    • SC Planning & Optimization
    • Sourcing/Procurement/SRM
    • Supply Chain Visibility
    • Transportation Management
  • GENERAL SCM
    • Business Strategy Alignment
    • Education & Professional Development
    • Global Supply Chain Management
    • Global Trade & Economics
    • HR & Labor Management
    • Quality & Metrics
    • Regulation & Compliance
    • SC Security & Risk Mgmt
    • Supply Chains in Crisis
    • Sustainability & Corporate Social Responsibility
  • WAREHOUSING
    • All Warehouse Services
    • Conveyors & Sortation
    • Lift Trucks & AGVs
    • Order Fulfillment
    • Packaging
    • RFID, Barcode, Mobility & Voice
    • Robotics
    • Warehouse Management Systems
  • INDUSTRIES
    • Aerospace & Defense
    • Apparel
    • Automotive
    • Chemicals & Energy
    • Consumer Packaged Goods
    • E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
    • Food & Beverage
    • Healthcare
    • High-Tech/Electronics
    • Industrial Manufacturing
    • Pharmaceutical/Biotech
    • Retail
  • REGIONS
    • Asia Pacific
    • Canada
    • China
    • Europe
    • Latin America
    • Middle East/Africa
    • North America
  • THINK TANK
  • WEBINARS
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • PODCASTS
  • VIDEOS
  • WHITEPAPERS
Home » FedEx Tiptoes Into $9Bn Online Market for Bulky Deliveries

FedEx Tiptoes Into $9Bn Online Market for Bulky Deliveries

FedEx
January 15, 2019
Bloomberg

FedEx Corp. is testing full-service residential delivery of bulky products, a $9bn market that couriers had left to more traditional trucking companies because large items don’t fit well in their sorting operations.

The service would be offered through FedEx’s freight business, which is a less-than-truckload operation geared more toward industrial shipments. Under a pilot project, FedEx is carrying items such as washing machines and sectional sofas into a customer’s home and assembling them, FedEx said in an email.

“FedEx Freight is in the beginning stages of piloting a new service, FedEx Freight Direct, that will move larger, bulkier items to customers’ homes and businesses, and even offer light assembly for an additional fee,” Bonny Harrison, a FedEx spokeswoman, said in an email. “Demand for these types of delivery services has grown in recent years and we expect that trend to continue.”

The pilot started in the last few months, Harrison said. She didn’t have a date for concluding the test. FedEx’s traditional freight operations can deliver bulky items but don’t bring them into a home.

E-commerce purchases of appliances, furniture, exercise equipment and other large items is spurring growth of the residential deliveries of big and bulky items. The operations often require two people on the truck and the industry calls “white glove” service because the goods are taken into the home and set up. The customer often rates the service in a survey.

Large trucking companies including XPO Logistics Inc., J.B. Hunt Transport Services Inc. and Ryder Systems Inc. have made acquisitions to offer nationwide delivery service for bulky items because it’s one of the areas they’re able to tap into the fast-growing e-commerce sales. The service is growing at about a 10 percent clip, according to Satish Jindel, founder of SJ Consulting Group.

In a meeting last week with analysts, FedEx said it held a pilot program in six markets, said one of the analysts, Bascome Majors, with Susquehanna International Group.

FedEx fell less than 1 percent to $170 ahead of regular trading in New York. The shares have tumbled 7.6 percent since Dec. 18, when the company issued a gloomy profit forecast and said “bad political choices” from the U.S. to China were weighing on the economy. A Standard & Poor’s index of industrial companies climbed 3 percent during the same period.

RELATED CONTENT

RELATED VIDEOS

Last Mile Delivery Logistics Logistics Outsourcing LTL/Truckload Services Transportation & Distribution Business Strategy Alignment Order Fulfillment E-Commerce/Omni-Channel
KEYWORDS Business Strategy Alignment E-Commerce/Omni-Channel last mile delivery Logistics Logistics Outsourcing LTL/Truckload Services order fulfillment Transportation & Distribution
  • Related Articles

    DHL Steps Back Into U.S. Package Delivery in Challenge to UPS, FedEx

    Google Gets Into Groceries by Partnering With France's Carrefour for Online Food Delivery

Bloomberg

If Tesla Isn’t Good Enough for an ESG Index, Then Who Is?

More from this author

Wake up to live
“Supply Chains in Crisis”
updates and the latest Supply Chain News!

Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter

Timely, incisive articles delivered directly to your inbox.

Popular Stories

  • Warehouse worker

    Why Higher Wages Alone Won’t Solve the Supply Chain Labor Shortage

    Warehousing
  • Medical drone

    Amazon May Be Proof That Delivery Drones Aren’t Practical

    Last Mile Delivery
  • Adidas

    From Sneakers to Teslas, China Lockdowns Upend Global Supply Chains

    Coronavirus
  • Mobile App

    Podcast | Companies Are on a Shopping Spree for Supply Chain Software

    Technology
  • ESG Guide

    Confronting the ESG Imperative in Supply Chains

Digital Edition

Scb may 2022 sm

2022 Supply Chain ESG Guide

VIEW THE LATEST ISSUE

Case Studies

  • 3PL Doubles Productivity With Robots to Fulfill Medical Supply Orders

  • E-Commerce Company Cuts Order Fulfillment Time by 40%

  • Fashion Retailer Halves Fulfillment Time With Omichannel Automation

  • Distributor Scales Business by Integrating Warehouse Automaton Software

  • Fast-Growing Fashion Brand Scales E-Commerce Fulfillment With Whiplash

Visit Our Sponsors

Yang Ming Alithya Barcoding
Blue Yonder BNSF Logistics Generix
GEP GIB USA GreyOrange
Here Honeywell Intelligrated Inmar
Keelvar Kinaxis Korber
Liberty SBF Locus Robotics Lucas Systems
Nvidia Old Dominion Parsyl
Redwood Logistics Saddle Creek Logistics Schneider Dedicated
Setlog Holding AG Ship4WD Shipwell
Tecsys TGW Systems Thomson Reuters
Tive Trailer Bridge Vecna Robotics
Whiplash    
  • More From SCB
    • Featured Content
    • Video Library
    • Think Tank Blog
    • SupplyChainBrain Podcast
    • Whitepapers
    • On-Demand Webinars
    • Upcoming Webinars
  • Digital Offerings
    • Digital Issue
    • Subscribe
    • Manage Your Subscription
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Events Calendar
    • SCB's Great Supply Chain Partners
    • Supplier Directory
    • Case Study Showcase
    • Supply Chain Innovation Awards
    • 100 Great Partners Form
  • SCB Corporate
    • Advertise on SCB.COM
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Us
    • Data Sharing Opt-Out

All content copyright ©2022 Keller International Publishing Corp All rights reserved. No reproduction, transmission or display is permitted without the written permissions of Keller International Publishing Corp

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing