More Than 223 Million Shipments to Move Through FedEx Networks During the Holidays
MEMPHIS, Tenn., Nov. 11, 2010 – FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) expects to see its busiest day in company history when it moves almost 16 million shipments around the world on December 13. This is a more than 12 percent increase from last year’s busiest day when the company handled 14.2 million shipments.
For the overall holiday season, FedEx is expecting a total volume increase of approximately 11 percent compared to 2009. FedEx forecasts more than 223.3 million shipments will move through its global networks between Thanksgiving and Christmas.
More than half of the holiday season volume increase will be from FedEx SmartPost shipments. FedEx SmartPost volume is largely driven by online retailers and cataloguers who ship high volumes of lighter shipments to residential customers. FedEx SmartPost has a completely integrated national network that picks up, sorts and delivers packages directly to U.S. Postal Service facilities for final delivery to residences. The affordable rate structure allows retailers to offer discounted shipping to customers during the holidays and beyond.
During the week of December 13, also the busiest week of the year for FedEx, the company expects to move more than 63.1 million shipments compared to last year’s busiest week of 57.5 million shipments. Items such as books from large internet retailers and retail inventory such as apparel, personal consumer electronics and luxury goods will drive FedEx holiday volumes.
“Once again, the FedEx work force of more than 285,000 team members will make the holidays happen for millions of FedEx customers across the globe,” said Frederick W. Smith, chairman, president and CEO of FedEx Corp. “We are optimistic about the volumes during the holiday shipping season and expect growth to be driven mainly by FedEx SmartPost with U.S. domestic ground packages and global air express shipments contributing to volumes as well.”
On average, more than 8 million packages move through the FedEx systems daily.
The FedEx Outlook
FedEx is encouraged by the anticipated increase in holiday volume. The impact of the expected higher volumes was included in the company’s earnings guidance issued in September.
The Holiday Retail Outlook
According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), holiday sales are expected to increase a moderate 2.3 percent this year to $447.1 billion. This growth is slightly lower than the ten-year average holiday sales increase of 2.5 percent. In 2009, sales increased 0.4 percent. NRF also found that retailers will continue to focus on supply-chain efficiencies and inventory control.
Online holiday sales are forecast to climb 15 percent compared to last year according to the research and consulting firm Deloitte.
FedEx Ground . . . For the Holidays and Beyond
Year over year, FedEx Ground volumes on its busiest day are expected to increase by 1.8 million packages. Approximately 50 percent of this increase is due to volume growth at FedEx SmartPost.
Retailers, cataloguers and other customers are increasingly discovering the unique value proposition available for high volume, lightweight residential packages offered by FedEx SmartPost.
“All three of our ground services continue to grow and attract new customers based on our outstanding overall service and unique attributes,” said David Rebholz, president and CEO of FedEx Ground. “One major factor is speed, as FedEx Ground is faster to more overall locations and FedEx Home Delivery is faster to more residential locations than UPS Ground.”
FedEx Ground continues its nationwide network expansion to boost daily package volume capacity and further enhance the reliability, speed and service capabilities of its network.
The network enhancements have resulted in accelerating ground service delivery by one day or more in approximately two-thirds of the United States since 2003. FedEx Ground now delivers more than 61 percent of packages in two days or less and more than 82 percent of packages in three days or less.
FedEx Busiest Day of the Year . . . A History of Growth
FedEx has experienced steady growth in holiday volumes over the last several years. A historical breakdown of busiest day volumes follows:
- Dec. 12, 2005 – 9.8 million shipments
- Dec. 18, 2006 – 10.6 million shipments
- Dec. 17, 2007 – 11.5 million shipments
- Dec. 15, 2008 – 12.0 million shipments
- Dec. 14, 2009 – 14.2 million shipments
- Dec. 13, 2010 – 16.0 million shipments projected