UPS Worldwide Economy service to focus on ecommerce operation

July 25, 2019: UPS has announced the roll-out of international delivery service for small- and medium-sized retailers in order to capture the surging cross-border e-commerce, and even the launch of a new drone business.

The UPS Worldwide Economy service will connect key e-commerce destinations across the world, which will be available initially to customers in the US, Canada, China, Hong Kong, and the UK, expanding to other key global markets.

UPS said that cross-border online sales will make up 20 percent of global e-commerce in 2022. "Our customers are seeking growth opportunities by doing what UPS did decades ago - they are going global. The opportunities are even greater in today's dynamic international trade environment with cross-border ecommerce set to grow two times faster than domestic e-commerce," said Nando Cesarone, president of UPS International. 

With an eye on the export ambitions of the UK in a post-Brexit world, a UPS spokesperson added, "The UPS Economy service benefits the UK. businesses in the B2C and B2B space that are looking to export to key e-commerce destinations across the world, but has been waiting for a more affordable way to ship internationally."

To scale drone operations in targeted markets faster, UPS has filed for Part 135 certification from the Federal Aviation Administration to operate a newly established UPS subsidiary called UPS Flight Forward. When approved, UPS Flight Forward will be one of the first fully-certified US drone operations to complete routine flights.

UPS and its partner, Matternet, currently operate special drone healthcare deliveries of medical samples at WakeMed hospitals in Raleigh.

It is even launching the first-of-its-kind solution in the US market for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) called UPS My Choice for business. Available July 29, the new solution builds on the tremendous success of UPS My Choice for home, which has 60 million members. UPS My Choice for business allows customers to easily monitor, plan and control deliveries and outgoing shipments.  

As part of ongoing plans, UPS is making major investments to optimise transportation assets, shipping modes, and technology resources to improve time in transit.  The investments focus on shipping lanes connecting cities and towns where more than 80 percent of the US population resides.  The investments will benefit customers using all products in UPS's broad shipping portfolio.

"We will leverage the combination of the UPS Network, UPS Access Point locations and SurePost in collaboration with the United States Postal Service to efficiently provide these exciting new capabilities," said Kevin Warren, UPS chief marketing officer. "Building on an expanded relationship with the Postal Service to help deliver seven-day service to our customers makes good business sense."

Beginning January 1, 2020, UPS will offer customers pick-up and delivery services seven days per week. With more than 40,000 UPS Access Point and 38,000 drop-box locations around the world, UPS gives customers the global advantage of an industry-leading network with more than 78,000 locations to pick up or drop off packages.  

The company is adding 10 million pounds of additional lift capacity, the largest current expansion of capacity by any carrier. Over the last several months, UPS has significantly increased its market share in the next-day air package market, especially among the world's largest e-commerce shippers. The company continues to operate at a high level of aircraft capacity utilisation and is deploying aircraft to shipping lanes in line with market needs. 

UPS has already taken delivery of 18 of 44 new aircraft previously announced and will receive the remainder by 2022.  In 2019, UPS will receive 11 aircraft, the most in any year of the current aircraft expansion programme.