Amazon tops UPS and FedEx as the biggest US delivery biz, as the brown-box battle heats up
Check your doorstep… Amazon’s now the US’s No. 1 delivery biz. Last year — for the first time — the one-click-checkout giant delivered more packages to US homes than UPS or FedEx. While the gov’t-backed US Postal Service still holds the top spot for overall delivery volume, Amazon’s #s represent packages it shipped end to end (think: from warehouse to doorstep). The delivery gap between Amazon and its rivals is only getting bigger:
Prime customer: While FedEx severed biz ties with Amazon in 2019, UPS says deliveries for the ecomm juggernaut now make up over a tenth of its revenue.
Priority shipment: By this Thanksgiving, Amazon had delivered 4.8B+ packages in the US this year. It expects to hit nearly 6B by year’s end — a 13% jump from last year.
No box, no label… no problem. Package volumes have dipped as more consumers opt for vacays and concerts over online splurges. Last month, UPS cut its full-year revenue forecast and said it’s unlikely to top last year’s deliveries. While FedEx raised profit expectations thanks to cost cuts, it’s already scaled back revenue forecasts for next year. As Amazon eats up even more market share, FedEx and UPS are focusing on “high-value parcels” and tapping into the $817B retail-returns market.
If you want it done well, do it yourself… A decade ago, Amazon’s competitors doubted its ability to dominate the delivery industry. Amazon proved them wrong by doubling down on its in-house logistics approach, operating scores of warehouses and managing nearly 280K delivery drivers worldwide. By not having to rely solely on services like UPS, Amazon can control the speed of its deliveries, perhaps its biggest strength.