Evolving in the Age of E-Commerce

2,000 New Opportunities. 600+ New Locations.

Nobody could have predicted how quickly and strategically FedEx Office continues to evolve and expand. Not even us, and FedEx knows a thing or two about speed.

What started as “the corner copy shop” is now a nationwide network of more than 1,900 FedEx Office company-owned stores and locations in the U.S., that offer printing, packing and shipping solutions. Today, we find ourselves growing faster than ever in a marketplace defined by choice, control and convenience.

For customers, the expansion of our retail network means more access to our services just about everywhere you work, live and shop. For our dedicated FedEx Office Team Members, this rapid growth also creates unlimited opportunities to build a career with a company that has a long history of putting people first.

The Start of Our Story

FedEx acquired Kinko’s in 2004, a year after broadband entered American homes and triggered the explosive growth of e-commerce that changed the way people shop and ship. FedEx is in the center of the action, and our network of FedEx Office retail stores support e-commerce in critical ways. More on that later. Let’s first look at how the FedEx Office brand arrived to where we are today.

When FedEx acquired Kinko’s and created the FedEx Office brand, we did it as a strategic move to increase our brick-and-mortar presence and give customers shipping and printing under one roof. We have since become the hub of local logistics for FedEx, which includes offering FedEx Express, and FedEx Ground services. Customers come to FedEx Office retail stores for access to our shipping services. They also rely on us for their printing needs, and our capabilities have come a long way since 2004.

FedEx Office Team Members personify our Purple Promise of making every customer experience outstanding with expert consultation and custom print solutions of every shape, size and format.

Our Team Members’ talents are our company’s most prized asset, and as our products and solutions evolve, so do their skills.  

Our technology also continues evolving, and it has changed the way we do business in the age of e-commerce.

e-commerce Is Driving our Expansion

I mentioned earlier how our retail network supports FedEx Corporation’s e-commerce capabilities. The market forces that are shaping e-commerce are fueling the expansion of FedEx Office, as we add services and capabilities such as FedEx SameDay City delivery.

The volume of residential deliveries continues to swell – especially during the peak holiday season, but also throughout the year as people do more of their shopping online. FedEx Office takes the pressure off the “last mile” of FedEx Express and FedEx Ground residential deliveries by holding packages at a nearby store for customers to retrieve at their convenience.

We also give people more control of their deliveries, with the FedEx Delivery Manager app that lets you choose where and when you receive packages. If you know you won’t be home, you may choose to hold them for pickup at a FedEx location or Walgreens. Combining FedEx Delivery Manager with our network of FedEx Office retail stores is a powerful solution when it comes to choice, control and convenience.

Returns is another aspect of e-commerce that calls for smart solutions. With the FedEx Pack & Return Program, merchants can send the return shipper to a FedEx Office location and we will pull the return details, pack the item, print the shipping label and return it to the merchant.

The More We Do, the More Places We Need to Be

As you can see, our stores have added significantly to the services we offer, and this calls for us to expand our physical presence so we can engage customers where they live and work – at neighborhood stores, hotels, universities, corporate campuses, hospitals and elsewhere.

We’re adding more than 600 new locations during the next two years, including traditional stores, customized OnCampus locations and store-within-a-store locations inside Walmart so people can print and ship where they already shop.

Adding 2,000 Jobs and Counting

The rapid growth of our nationwide network creates hundreds of career advancement opportunities for our Team Members, and we are following our “People First” philosophy to promote from within.

As we move into 500 new Walmart stores, we’re creating a total of 1,500 new job opportunities for Team Members, including 500 management roles.  And our growth extends across the company, including not only our retail organization, but also in commercial sales, our Centralized Production Centers and our field support organization at FedEx Office headquarters in Plano, Texas.

As we diversify the types of stores we open, we’re also diversifying the skills of our Team Members through ongoing training that ensures they’re ready for their next career move. We also created tools and resources where Team Members can share their interest in job opportunities that call for relocation to different parts of the country. After all, choice and control matter to our employees, too!

As the 15th anniversary of FedEx Office approaches this spring, we will look back on our brand’s history with pride, and with great anticipation of a future full of potential for our company and the people who work here. I look forward to sharing more insights in my articles on LinkedIn. To stay up-to-date on my latest posts, click the "more" drop down on my homepage then click "follow" to see my articles and updates in your feed.