Amazon’s vaunted flywheel has hit a bit of a snag. But given the company’s superpower ability to continually evolve and innovate, and the general trajectory of double-digit ecommerce growth, it may end up looking like a speed bump in hindsight.
AxleHire, a last-mile solutions company powering delivery for HelloFresh, Deliverr, Freshly and Pet Food Express, has closed a $20M funding round aimed at increasing its sortation capabilities, expanding its network and moving more into general ecommerce. It also hopes to create a national network to compete with regional carriers.
Like UPS before it, FedEx reported a blowout first quarter fueled by pandemic-era ecommerce demand, with revenue and profits exceeding estimates and average daily volume in its ground parcel network increasing by 31%. Executives said they are ready for a massive peak holiday season with personnel, facilities and technology.
This month, FedEx Express installed four robotic arms inside a sortation hub in its hometown of Memphis, in response to demands placed on its services in the midst of the massive pandemic-influenced surge in ecommerce orders. Yaskawa America supplied the robotic arms and Plus One provided the software system.
FedEx surprised to the upside in Q4, its laser focus on ecommerce capabilities in recent years paying off in terms of responsiveness to massive online buying, even as service stumbles were reported in a couple states. It seemed none the worse for having parted ways with Amazon in 2019 to seek more profitable customer relationships.
Amazon Air is projected to have 200 cargo jets in its fleet by 2027 or 2028, bringing it close to parity with UPS if the latter doesn’t expand significantly, according to a study from DePaul University. The study said Amazon Air has grown to 42 planes since its launch in 2016, with plans to expand to 70 by 2021, putting it on par with DHL.
UPS will not add a residential delivery surcharge this holiday peak season, unlike the past two years, but will add surcharges for larger packages and those requiring additional handling. The company expects to exceed record volume of 800 million packages set last year, with 75% of it handled by automated sortation systems.
UPS has opened a new 323,000-square-foot high-tech package sorting and delivery hub outside Paris, part of an ongoing $2 billion investment in European facilities to expand its network capacity there and facilitate cross-border trade.
A listing of recently announced expansions and additions in retail distribution and fulfillment centers.