Atlanta-based global freight transportation and logistics bellwether UPS rolled out various pieces of separate but related news today, with the bulk of them focused on small and medium sized businesses (SMB) in helping them to identify and participate in global trade opportunities.
These releases are in tandem with UPS’s Transformation efforts focused on investments in its network made possible through its capital expenditures investments, as well as leveraging internal efficiencies and a focus on four key growth initiatives for SMBs for healthcare, e-commerce, and high-growth international markets.
UPS officials noted that the time is right for these releases, considering that global cross-border online sales will make up 20% of e-commerce in 2022, which presents an opportunity for small business growth with streamlined new service, as well as the fact that more than 99% of U.S. businesses aren’t exporting.
“UPS continues its commitment to helping our customers grow and succeed while also creating higher UPS network utilization and profitable growth,” said David Abney, UPS Chairman and CEO, in a statement. “Transformation, including technology-driven modernization in our network and technology platforms, is enabling major enhancements to our product portfolio and our customers’ experience.”
The first of UPS’s new offerings is the launch of the UPS My Choice for Business Service Platform, which is comprised of the same features and offerings as UPS My Choice for Home, which debuted in 2011 and gives consumers a one-day alert for when a package is coming and allows them to control the timing and location of the delivery.
A UPS spokesman described My Choice for Business as a “super charged” version of My Choice for Home and is customized and geared towards the needs of small businesses who often lack the financial resources or the time to manage their logistics in the way that a large company would, and without a cash investment lack the tools they need.
“This gives them what we believe is a first in the market for these kinds of services for small businesses,” said the spokesman.
The second offering is a major extension of the UPS Access Point network. UPS Access Point locations serve as a replacement delivery address when consumers are not at home to receive a package or when consumers want a delivery to go somewhere other than their residence. These points are geared towards consumers and small businesses that need convenient access to UPS.
The Access Point expansion is being done through partnerships UPS has formed with CVS, Michaels, and Advance Auto Parts, and independent retail stores in the coming months for up to 12,000 additional locations. With the addition of these locations, that will bring the total number of U.S.-based Access Point locations to 21,000 and 40,000 globally.
Investing in the Access Point footprint and growing it provides what the UPS spokesman called a “natural handoff” between My Choice users whom can redirect a package to an Access Point in a hand-in-hand manner.
The third offering is the introduction of a new offering called UPS Worldwide Economy, a deferred, lower-priced international option geared towards small businesses that are often reluctant to ship cross-border, due to costs concerns and complexities related to Customs issues.
UPS Worldwide Economy will initially be rolled out to customers in the U.S., Canada, China, Hong Kong, and the U.K. and it will add other key global markets down the road.
“We know that small businesses often look at the ‘first mile’ in the delivery process, this low-cost service makes that first mile more accessible and affordable for them,” the UPS spokesman said.
The fourth new UPS offering is UPS Extended Hours Pickup for Next Day Ground Delivery, which will reduce transit times and provide extended late hours for pickup for customers that need it, for next-day delivery by ground.
Along with Extended Hours, effective January 1, 2020, UPS will kick off seven-day pick-up and delivery services, expanding its current Saturday pick-up and delivery services for residential and business locations and also add new Sunday pick-up and delivery options.
UPS Chief Marketing Officer Kevin Warren said in a statement that this offering will leverage the combination of the UPS Network, UPS Access Point locations and SurePost in collaboration with the United States Postal Service.
UPS’s fifth new offering takes to the skies, with the launch of its new drone subsidiary, UPS Flight Forward, a small drone delivery operation initially within the hospital network space.
This offering serves as a continuation of the partnership between UPS and drone startup Matternet operating special drone healthcare deliveries of medical samples under FAA Part 107 rules at Raleigh, N.C.-based WakeMed hospitals, transporting samples, blood, and other biologics from a lab to another building in the WakeMed network in the Raleigh area.
That process, said the UPS spokesman, was previously done by ground courier, which could take anywhere from 15-to-30 minutes or longer depending on traffic. But with drone transport, he said these deliveries can happen in minutes.
“This is a really practical use of drones,” said the spokesman. “It is not like delivering ice cream to your doorstep. This is being done every day, and UPS is the only company in the U.S. flying revenue-generating drone flights. Along with creating this subsidiary, UPS has applied for Part 135 Certification with the FAA.”
This certification is made up of four different levels, and UPS has applied for, and expects to get, the highest level of certification, which the spokesman said potentially allows UPS to scale what it is doing at WakeMed throughout the U.S., with no limitations or restrictions on the number of drones or operators in command, adding that UPS has a strong pipeline of other hospital networks excited to get onboard with UPS Flight Forward Inc.
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