FedEx expects to ship more than 280 million shipments for the holiday season betweenThanksgiving and Christmas which would equal a year-on-year increase of more than 13% compared to
2011, with growth driven by e-commerce.To cope with the volumes, FedEx plans to hire approximately 20,000 seasonal workers handling thesurge in holiday shipments at FedEx Ground, FedEx Home Delivery and FedEx SmartPost.
Holiday volumes are largely driven by high retail sales boosted by online shopping, with goodssuch as personal electronics, apparel, luxury goods and items from large internet retailers.
The company forecast that December 10, 2012, so-called ‘Green Monday’, would be the busiest dayin its history with 19 million shipments to be moved on that day through its global ground, expressand freight networks. This would correspond to a 10% year-on-year increase compared to December 12,2011, the busiest day last year.
Green Monday, which falls on the second Monday of December, is one of the most lucrative days ofthe year for retail companies and traditionally kicks off the heaviest online shopping week of theyear. In 2011, US consumers spent $1.1 billion on Green Monday alone, according to the marketresearch company comScore.
FedEx provides various shipping options to customers during the holiday season through itsnetwork. With FedEx Express, they can ship high-value and other goods with the latest possibledelivery on Dec. 24 or even on Christmas Day with FedEx SameDay service. More economical and sloweroptions include deliveries through FedEx Ground, which claims to be faster to more locations thatUPS Ground, and FedEx Home Delivery, which similarly claims to be faster to more residentiallocations than UPS Ground. The residential shipping service for low-weight shipments, FedEx SmartPost, is targeted at online and catalogue retailers with last-mile delivery by USPS.
“The continued trend toward record peak volumes is a testament to the strength, speed andreliability of the FedEx Ground and FedEx SmartPost networks,” Frederick W. Smith, chairman,president and CEO of FedEx Corp, said. “FedEx team members from around the globe, 300,000 strong,are prepared to help drive commerce during the busy holiday season and beyond.”
The impact of the expected higher FedEx Ground and FedEx SmartPost volumes was included in thecompany’s earnings guidance for fiscal 2013.
The US National Retail Federation (NRF) expects holiday sales to increase 4.1% this year to$586.1 billion. This forecast is higher than the 10-year average holiday sales increase of3.5%.
