Don’t get between Grandma and the delivery of Christmas presents meant for her babies: That’s my advice for the New Year, especially for companies who deliver directly to consumers.
FedEx and UPS took the media heat and headline hyperbole for being a day late on a tiny fraction of their deliveries, and online retailers are now a dollar or two short, offering ‘make-good’ refunds and credit toward future purchases.
But did anyone really get hurt? No one over the age of 8, I’d guess.
And since angry 8-year-olds aren’t making corporate-level shipping decisions, the supply chain will only be stronger – that is, better prepared and more efficient – next Christmas.
Of course, everyone involved in this year’s late fumble will review the game film to determine whether retailers over-promised or carriers under-delivered. But that’s another way of saying ‘negotiate’: The mega-carriers will gladly add capacity, if shippers are willing to pay for it.
Certainly there will be corresponding opportunities for smaller players to step in and take advantage of the continuing growth of online shopping.
Indeed, online retailers have already diversified their delivery options, “cobbling together” networks of regional carriers who are grabbing market share, as the Wall Street Journal reports. What may be crumbs to UPS and FedEx add up: Just a 3 percent piece of the ground delivery pie came to about $1 billion in 2013. For companies that started as local couriers or express package delivery carriers serving niche needs, that’s real money.
