Part five:
Many shipping companies exist nowadays and most of them offer
similar if not identical solutions. Of those companies, FedEx, Aramex, and UPS
are the most commonly used for shipping purposes. Although people prefer to go
to the one closest to home, each company has its specials and exclusive offers.
Most people
already know FedEx and use it regularly to ship their items. It has a very
accurate and precise tracking system for the shipped items. It also gives the
customer the choice of buying the shipping supplies and packing their items
themselves though it is not advised. One of the unique features of FedEx is
offering printing and copying services, which include a variety of solutions.
For example, one can order special signs and banners designed for him and FedEx
will take care of printing and delivering those products to the customer’s
doorstep. Business document printing like flyers, brochures, manuals, and
newsletters are also offered by FedEx. Some FedEx offices include Computer
Workstations for the customers to use at their convenience. They also offer
photo enlargement, printing directly from the customers computer, and various other
services. All these unique solutions are only implemented at FedEx. Other
companies could learn from this initiative and try to develop similar services
for their customers to increase their revenue.
Some people don’t like to go for the big companies either
because they cannot afford it or because they think it’s more expensive. They
tend to stay with the company they are already using or the one closest to
home. In some countries, UPS is the company having the majority of customers.
This is due to their new service called UPS My Choice. Most customers complain
about not getting their shipments where they need them or missing the signature
at the time of delivery due to their busy lives. UPS was the first to develop a
very convenient way of delivering packages where the customer chooses when and
where their packages should be delivered. This cuts down the number of times
the delivery man has to redeliver the package to the same address thus
increasing the company’s revenue.
The majority
of online shoppers tend to go to US websites to buy stuff; because they have
good quality products and because they are much cheaper than buying from the
retail store across the street or at the shopping mall. However, most US
websites don’t offer international shipping and the customer has to search for
other websites that do. Eventually, the customer doesn’t find such websites and
goes to buy from the retail store in town. Aramex solved this issue by a
variety of solutions. It offers its registered customers personal mailing
addresses in the US, UK and China without living there. By doing so, the
customer can now shop at any US website and use their US address to get the
package. Aramex then forwards the package to the customers home address whether
it be internet orders, gifts, magazine subscriptions, or even bank statements.
If the customer cannot or do not want to use their bank’s credit card, Aramex
offers a virtual credit card that can be reloaded with money and used at any
website at the customer’s convenience. Some people need to pick up a package
from someone but most of the time they cannot because they are outside the
country. Aramex deals with this problem by presenting the customer a pickup
service where one of Aramex’s staff goes to pick up the package and processes
all the documents to get the package to you as soon as possible and wherever
you are in the world. One of the unique services that Aramex provides for its
customers is a dedicated e-store and full shipment handling for the customer’s
business. The e-store is hosted and maintained by Aramex and all payments are
processed securely by their intelligent software. They also offer a design
feature for the customers website so that he doesn’t have to worry about who is
going to develop and design his e-store. Aramex’s latest addition to their
existing solutions bag is their Records Management services where they offer
secure physical and electronic records management as well as IT Escrow services
and secure shredding.
Many
companies including FedEx can implement the solutions offered by Aramex and UPS
in their company to help increase their growth and revenue and to have more
satisfied customers in their offices. However, one should not only copy other
companies’ actions and tries to develop their own unique products and services
to establish a well defined social position and prevent lawsuits from stopping
their business in the market.
Aramex :: delivery unlimited :: International
Express, Domestic Distribution, Freight and Logistics.
[online] (2012) Available at: <http://www.aramex.com> [Accessed 3rd June
2012].
FedEx: Shipping, Logistics Management and Supply
Chain Management. [online] (2012) Available at:
<http://www.fedex.com> [Accessed 3rd June 2012].
Shipping, Freight, Logistics and Supply Chain
Management from UPS. [online] (2012) Available at:
<http://www.ups.com> [Accessed 3rd June 2012].
written by Ali Alkaabi
