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BUSINESS Friday 29 November 2019
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Holiday stress: Amazon, others under gun for 1-day delivery

By JOSEPH PISANI next-day orders. Best Buy
AP Retail Writer has opened warehouses
NEW YORK (AP) — This year, near the heavily populated
holiday stress may take on cities of Chicago, Los An-
a whole new meaning for geles and New York. Target
online retailers. says more than 90% of on-
Amazon, Walmart and oth- line orders are packed at
ers have promised to de- stores.
liver more of their orders While Target doesn't prom-
within 24 hours of custom- ise next-day delivery, it says
ers clicking on "Buy." that half of its two-day de-
The coming weeks will be liveries are showing up at
the first test of whether they customers' doorsteps the
can make that happen next day. It's also offering
during the busy holiday same-day delivery from
shopping season, when on- stores for an extra fee and,
slaughts of orders and bad like other retailers, it offers
weather can lay waste an option for customers
to even the best delivery to buy online and pick up
plans. from a store.
It's an expensive feat that Shippers say they are ready
requires not just additional for the influx of packages.
planes and vehicles, but UPS, which says next-day
more workers and reams air shipments jumped 24%
of data to help retailers in the most recent quarter,
prepare and predict what has built more package
shoppers may buy. sortation hubs that will help
And the stakes to deliver on it process an additional
time are high. A late pack- 400,000 pieces per hour.
age can damage a retail- FedEx will again be offer-
er's reputation, since shop- ing online retailers a way to
pers tend to blame them, ship next day or in two days
even if the late arrival is the when orders come in late
fault of the delivery com- In this Aug. 3, 2017, file photo, packages ride on a conveyor system at an Amazon fulfillment afternoon or night. And the
pany. center in Baltimore. U.S. Postal Service says it
"The store made the prom- Associated Press will be delivering packages
ise," said Suketu Gandhi, in more cities on Sunday,
partner in the digital trans- ness School. "But they like customers this holiday day delivery. a change it typically does
formation practice at con- one day better." season," Amazon said in a The spending starts even during the holidays.
sulting firm A.T. Kearney. Smaller retailers, however, statement. before a package hits the But cities may not be pre-
Amazon learned that six will probably be hurt trying Amazon already had a road. Retailers are using pared for the rushed de-
years ago, when UPS and to pay for quicker shipping, chance to test out one-day machine learning tech- liveries. Goodchild said
FedEx were crippled by said Cohen, who used to shipping during its Prime nology to predict what places like New York and
bad weather and last-min- be an executive at Sears Day event in July, which shoppers may buy and Seattle are not built to deal
ute online shopping, caus- Canada. has become one of the then placing those items with the vans and cars
ing millions of packages to The push for even speedier company's busiest shop- in stores and warehouses stopping to deliver, caus-
be late for Christmas. Since delivery comes after Ama- ping events. closer to them, said Anne ing traffic and congestion.
then, the online shopping zon announced in April It has another advantage: Goodchild, the director of "That's where we see pres-
giant has been building its that it would cut its deliv- lots of cash. Amazon ex- the Supply Chain Transpor- sure," she said.q
own delivery network to ery for Prime members to pects to spend about $1.5 tation and Logistics Center
give it more control over one day from two. Walmart billion during the holiday at the University of Wash-
when and how its pack- and Best Buy followed with season, partly to move ington.
ages are delivered. It has their own announcements. items closer to customers Amazon has more than 100
leased jets, built package- Many smaller retailers are and pay for more worker warehouses around the
sorting hubs at airports and also trying to deliver quick- shifts. It says the cost is worth country to store, pack and
launched a program that er, according to UPS, which it, since it's already seeing ship goods. Walmart is us-
lets contractors start busi- said it will have 11 more jets customers spend more be- ing warehouses and stores
nesses delivering packages flying this year to keep up. cause of the switch to one- near customers to pack
in vans. But many eyes will be on
Others are feeling the pres- Amazon this holiday season
sure to keep up with Ama- and whether it will keep its
zon. When the company in- delivery promises. That's
troduced two-day shipping because 42% of all online
about 14 years ago, shop- sales this holiday season is
pers expected the same expected to go to the Se-
from other stores. That ap- attle company, according
pears to be happening consulting firm Bain & Co.
again. It says it's up to the chal-
"Customers love two-day lenge.
delivery," said Mark Cohen, "We deliver for our custom-
a retail studies professor at ers every day and are con-
New York's Columbia Busi- fident in our ability to serve