At the beginning of this year, FedEx announced the launch of a "commerce platform" in the third quarter, which feels akin to Hanjin in Korea suddenly announcing the creation of something like Coupang. Consequently, foreign media have continued to report on this development with headlines suggesting that FedEx is starting a commerce platform to directly compete with Amazon, questioning whether it can truly compete with Amazon. However, when we discuss FedEx's commerce platform, named fdx, it's apparent that it's not quite like Amazon.
Considering the history of conflict between FedEx and Amazon, the reporting behavior of these foreign media outlets is not incomprehensible. Amazon first made a move into the "last mile delivery" sector, which had been cooperated with FedEx, launching a direct competition. Furthermore, by 2023, Amazon had surpassed not only FedEx but also UPS, becoming the leading delivery company in the United States.
Upon examining the main features of fdx as outlined by FedEx, it seems more like a "logistics platform" than a commerce platform, given the numerous features related to logistics operations support. It might be that FedEx was actually more interested in creating a logistics platform.
Nonetheless, there are reasons to consider fdx as a "commerce platform." This is primarily because the first feature emphasized by fdx is "creating consumer demand." For a logistics company like FedEx, creating consumer demand is an entirely different capability, requiring effective marketing or a commerce platform to engage customers directly. How does FedEx plan to achieve this? Over the past few years, FedEx has been preparing a big picture strategy, indicating that the direction pursued by FedEx's commerce platform is different from Amazon's commerce platform.
● The ball Amazon launched: 'Last Mile Delivery'