Though never a stranger to headlines, FedEx has revealed a flurry of developments recently.
About a week and a half ago, it announced the addition of two new board members and changes to executive compensation incentives. Not long after, the company detailed the new pay for founder Fred Smith and president and CEO Raj Subramaniam, and said Brie Carere had been named the company’s first chief customer officer.
Then, this week, FedEx both announced an investment in the Chicago logistics startup FourKites — which is valued at more than $1 billion — and said it had received its first 150 electric delivery vehicles from BrightDrop, General Motors’ (GM) electric delivery and logistics business.
Now, the company has another announcement, which could bolster its e-commerce services.
FedEx is set to begin offering picture proof of delivery for customers of FedEx Express and FedEx Ground — its two largest subsidiaries — in the U.S. and Canada. If the package can be released without a signature, they’ll receive a photo showing its exact location, once it’s delivered to their doorstep.
The package photos will be free and accessed through FedEx’s tracking tools, and won’t require enrollment. FedEx said that Express and Ground are the first nationwide carriers to announce they will provide picture proof of delivery without requiring an account or login.
The service will soon be available to users of the company’s platform, FedEx Delivery Manager, in select markets. This is expected to be followed by a general release in the U.S. and Canada, which is slated to arrive in time for the holiday season.
The move comes amid the pandemic-fueled rise of e-commerce.
In May, FedEx noted that before the pandemic, it had predicted the U.S. domestic package market would reach 100 million packages per day by 2026, with 96% of volume growth stemming from e-commerce. Now, it's a milestone now expected to arrive this year.
Online sales numbers have remained strong. According to the Adobe Digital Economy Index, U.S. consumers spent $78.8 billion online in May, which is over $1 billion more than the number from April, when they spent $77.8 billion, though it’s below the $83.1 billion that was spent in March. Through May, consumers have spent $377.6 billion online — enough for a year-over-year increase of 8.9%.
