Amazon and FedEx Flirted Last Year?
Amazon swiped left on all its fulfillment partners for the last 10 years. Now it looks it explored working with FedEx again to help improve its returns experience. Whether or not it actually happens or might happen, it's a useful thought experiment to wonder about the benefits to both sides.
Amazon needs this.
Grocery stores are not going to magically roll out across America on their own, or anytime soon. A few stores here and there yes but Amazon does not have the store formula dialed in yet to do this.
This leaves a big hole in their customer experience: returns. Frankly, not just returns, but also pickups. Consumers value easy pickups, it's been a growth area for other retailers like Walmart and Target. Amazon does not have a great way to match this and FedEx could be helpful here.
Would Fred Smith ever do this? The former Marine would likely be too proud to get back into bed with Amazon. Raj Subramaniam, the current CEO of FedEx, has no such luxury. FedEx volume continues to decline.
FedEx needs this.
If they do get hitched again, the real question I have is could FedEx get some deferred delivery volume out of it? Like Amazon could give FedEx some unprofitable lanes in exchange for getting access to FedEx locations for hassle-free returns.
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