Federal Express B

The Express mail industry in the United States had a volume of $16-17 billion on expedited shipments in the year 1996. In the years before shipment volumes has risen 15-20% per year. However due to higher competition prices have fallen which resulted in a rise of only 10-15% in total revenues. As an example of this stands the revenue and the operating margin of the biggest player that make up 45% of the market. Federal Express’ revenue has more than quadrupled in the ten years prior 1996, however its operating margin has more than halved. (Exhibit 2) The

During the 1980s, the air express industry was a medium to attractive industry to already be a major player in, but not a very attractive industry to try and break into. The industry can be characterized by high rivalry from competitors who compete on the same services with very little differentiation, medium power from suppliers who supply the resources necessary to run the business, high buyer power because customers can basically find an equal service from any firm in the industry, low substitution threat from other means of shipping transportation, and low threat of new entrants due to the high initial capital outlay and need of management

The industry is defined as the Domestic US Express Mail industry. This includes overnight and second day delivery. In order to assess the attractiveness of the industry, a Porters' Five Forces analysis has been conducted as follows.

FedEx created overnight delivery service and second-day delivery service in order to satisfy customers’ need in a way that its competitors cannot. Both services guaranteed delivery time to every customer, they willing to pay the premium price. In this case, customers self-select the option based on their preferences, depending on the relative values of prices or their situational needs. If there is an urgent package, the customer can select overnight service. However, a second-day delivery is a cheaper choice for customers if they do not need to send the package right away. However, these services are still not much different from its rival such as UPS or DHL. FedEx has to add capacity control strategy, which allows it to maintain its revenue.

FedEx has two major customers who consist of businesses and individual customers. These business customers have accounts with FedEx to arrive at their location to pick up packages daily or weekly. Two-thirds of FedEx’s business comes from these customers so FedEx curves their operations to satisfy this clientele. Since FedEx’s competition is trying to acquire some of this clientele they have begun to operate and market to this clientele more effectively. Individual customers are also in FedEx’s internal environment. These customers represent one-third of their business. With increased competition from competitors FedEx has marketed to this market substantially. They have created boxes that are prepaid for shipment as long as the contents fit into the box. This has effectively increased business amongst individual customers for FedEx.

In this report we focus on the two main competitors in the package delivery industry: Federal Express Corporation (FedEx) and United Parcel Service of America, Inc.

When you think of sending a package, the first thing that strikes your mind is efficient and prompt delivery. This is the major trait you look for in a courier company by which you are sending your shipments.

The evolution of the express mail industry had become a quick on-time shipping and delivery of packages. The service had become effective, reliable, and prompt, which most of the top companies could deliver on these guaranteed promises 96-99% of the time. But, delivery services were only a portion of the services being offered to their customers. Carriers had mastered information management that they shared with their customers. Customers were now able to fill out labels, track the route of their package, and assisted in billing using both via carrier provided software or the Internet.

Federal Express established itself as a key player in the competitive airfreight industry, just three years after beginning operations, as a direct result of its unique strategic hub system and a policy of limiting package size to under 70 pounds.

FedEx’s new product Courier Pak makes sense because of its’ high profit margin and potential to generate new volume. Out of the 3 services that Fed Ex provides, CP yields the highest profit margin at 66% while Priority-One is at 55% and SAS is only at 27%. In addition to this, the company believes that it will be able to boost up sale of CP from 1300 to 6000 packages per day. This shows that CP is the most profitable and huge potential for growth.

Airborne Express the current underdog in the express mail business has been able to compete with market leaders due to innovation and optimization strategy. The company built on cutting cost and emphasizing reliability now faces pressure from the leaders UPS and FedEx to change their pricing strategy. This change from standard rate pricing to distance-based pricing puts Airborne in a dilemma in which they must choose to match the competition which will make them lose what sets them apart in the market or stay with the current strategy. Changing will increase their flexibility and could open them up to new consumers while staying the same

The parcel service industry is made up of four main competitors. These competitors are UPS, FedEx, Airborne Express, and the U.S. Postal Service. Since 2000, American consumers have spent more than $50 billion to ship parcels, packages, and overnight letters. New parcel distribution patterns developed due to the way U.S. manufacturing companies are operating. The Internet has expanded the reach of direct marketing, particularly with retail transactions requiring home delivery. Globalization has also created the need for parcel carriers to expand worldwide.

That being said, Federal Express is faced with an uphill task in growing its market share. The target segment in this case is corporates and it is very difficult to get corporates to change buying patterns. It is faced with stiff competition from incumbent Emery Air which currently has the highest recall and also seen as a reliable freight service provider. Additionally, it is trying to market a product that is fairly standardized and does not have many distinguishing features.

The organization is FedEx, the logistics company, and specifically its Express business unit, which is focused on overnight courier activities. The time period is generic basically the activities are repeated day over day. Product costing is important for the company, knowing that most of the cost structure is fixed costs. Normally, FedEx looks at service costs at the route level, and then the fixed costs related to the entire network that brings packages to customers around the world.

Ranked 92 out of the 500 largest corporations worldwide, the United States Postal Service reaches billions of customers daily with national and international mail (CNN Money, 2010). The massive amount of business USPS operates necessitates successful implementation of the four functions of management. Two such factors (i.e. planning and organizing) of maintaining business is reaching out worldwide to deliver packages. According to the USPS web site, packages scheduled for international delivery contract with FedEx on a global scale reaching 190 countries (USPS, 2011). The service named Global Express Guaranteed or GXG offers customers options like date certain delivery and track and confirmation information. Contracting with FedEx is a prime example of globalization. An organization such as USPS which is not worldwide fills their customers’ needs by joining forces with an organization that can facilitate delivery all over the globe.