Retailing

               Retailing is all the activity directly related to the sale of goods and services. It is no suprise that the U.S. economy is so heavily based on retail. Millions of Transactions go on every day and 72 percent of all transactions goin on every day is a retail based transaction. I work for Fed ex Express as a driver. I decided to go to a Fedex Office in regular clothes to see the retail experience in the store. The first thing that I noticed is every customer is greeted as soon as they enter the door. Most retail stores that I have been to this has never happened to me. There would be several visible Employee's but all of them doing something other than paying attention to the customer. In Fedex even employee's that are helping other customers will acknoledge you and say politely that they will be with you in a second. Just a few minutes of being in Fed ex office I could tell that retail is very important to the company. They make a customer feel welcome and that makes a person more likely to buy something or come back. After having a few of my questions answered the employee did offer me the "product of the month" which was a 8 giga byte flash drive that was on sale only for that month. He offered it to me asking me if I was in school which I thought was a clever way to drive the sale even tho I declined. Also they offer alot of online retailing from business cards, brochures, banners, and the list goes on. Fed ex office is the retail part of Fed ex the company as a whole. If I had to rate my experience as a customer on a scale from 1-10 I would definetly rate fed ex office a 10.

Consumer Decision Making

Fed ex pays an enormous amount of attention to consumer behavior and how they can attract more customers through various strategies. Working for Fed ex personally, the customer experience is one of the most important factors in the day to day operation. Fed ex wants its employee's to always follow the "Purple Promise" which is to make sure every customer experience is outstanding. Consumer behavior is directly effected by their experience in store. If the customer encounters a bad experience it is horrible. Now in these times word of mouth does not only effect the next consumer decision making process that the customer spoke to or heard about a bad experience, but now customers have the option to go online and pubically post their opinons through various social networks or easily accesible applications. This can harm a company's reputation. Fed ex has a zero-tolerance policy for treating customers with disrespect.

Fed ex also creates easy and convienent ways for customer's to track their packages through every delivery step. According to Donald Corner, Director of New Product Development " Fed ex was among the very first to imagine that the internet could become a tool for tracking and conveying shipment information." When a customer ships a package they can track their package every step of the way which gives the consumer a sense of safety. The following is a link on Fed ex uses insight and innovation to innovate. http://www.prtm.com/uploadedFiles/Thought_Leadership/Articles/External_Articles/PRTM_PDMA_How_FedEx_Innovates.pdf




Fed ex office also provides a variety of convenient ways for cutomers to get needed items printed without leaving the house or office. Fed ex office provide an option called Print Online where customers can upload their documents or design online, choose custom options to their order ( type of paper, black and white or color, binding options, poster options , paper type,etc) and generates a turn around time based on jobs in house. This way customers know when exactly their orders will be ready and can come pick them up.



Also customers have the option to email the store directly and can contact live team members to talk about their order. Fed ex office also has many other options for customers on the go and that need things printed right away. Fed ex office has usb readers linked to copiers/printers so that customers can come in put their usb directly in the machine use a credit or debit card print needed documents and go. The customers dont even have to wait on a line because they have been charged directly to their credit cards.

Customers needing invitations or business card or letterheads can also access a very usefull tool called the desighn and print center where you can desighn your own stationary. The convenience of desighning your own custom made peice of stationary from home and the option to get it delivered to your home really puts Fed ex office on top of competion and allows consumers to skip the decision making process just based on pure convenience.

Global Marketing

Fed ex provides shipping services to over 220 countries. Fed ex is always looking to expand and open new locations in different countries. The way Fed ex stays competitive is through offering competitive rates, Delivery typically in 2-5 business days, 24 hour shipment status tracking through the fedex website or via email, customs clearance, and a Money back guarantee. One print ad says FedEx's commitment to reliable yet cost effective international shipments. "The economy is up. Your delivery costs don't have to follow," the ad reads, that FedEx International Economy allows users to "save money without compromising on quality and reliability" with "less time-sensitive shipments." The campaign is running in high potential growth markets like the U.K., Germany, South Korea, Japan, Brazil and China. Each region will roll out subsequent ads over the next six months, with the bulk coinciding with high levels of business activity, said Emma Armstrong, senior director on the FedEx account at BBDO, New York.

Fed ex also provides an International Next Flight for urgent shipments. They many convienent options for customers that need shipments sent Internationally at quick delivery times. Below is a link that has a list for all international countries that Fed ex offers services too.
http://images.fedex.com/us/services/pdf/CountriesServed_IF_IP_IE.pdf



Fed ex does alot of Global Advertising because Fed ex targets companies all around the world that need shipping services.

 

The External Marketing Enviroment

FedEx Corp is the world's biggest express transportation company. They generate over $20 billion in annual revenue. The company offers business solutions through a network of companies that operate independently. These businesses are FedEx Express, the worlds biggest express transportation company; FedEx Ground, Americas second biggest provider of small package delivery; FedEx Freight, a regional provider of truck load deliveries; FedEx Customer Critical, worlds biggest expedited delivery service, and FedEx Trade Networks; which provides brokerage, consulting, and trade services. FedEx Corp also works closely in improving changes to the environment

Fed ex has a term they call the purple promise. The purple promise is to ensure every customer experience is outstanding. Fed ex holds meetings and provides various trainings in order to show employee's how to deal with customers and encourages employee's to build relationships with customer as a trusted advisor. Customers that feel comfortable with employee's are guarenteed to return. Fed ex is definetly focused on the external enviroment because they do various survey's taken from customer's to see how the customer's experience was at any Fed ex location. They are called VOC or voice of the customer. Your goal as an employee is to make sure every experience is outstanding.

Ethics and Social Responsibility

"FedEx Ranked as Top 50 Company in Corporate Social Responsibility Index

New Study Released Today by the Reputation Institute and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship

The Reputation Institute and the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship released its Corporate Social Responsibility Index (CSRI) today, evaluating the top companies in the U.S. for corporate social responsibility, according to consumers. FedEx earned a rating of 74.65 and was ranked 13 on the list of 50 companies.

The study was based on the Reputation Institute’s 2008 Global Pulse Study, which surveyed consumer opinions of more than 200 companies. Respondents were asked to evaluate companies’ social responsibility efforts in the areas of ethics, involvement in the community, environmental efforts and how the companies treat their workforce.

According to analysis by the Reputation Institute, social programs, management practices and employee relations accounts for more than 40 percent of a company’s reputation.

FedEx is honored to be recognized for its continued commitment to being a caring corporate citizen.

Corporate social responsibility comes to life for FedEx through a variety of initiatives such as disaster relief support, alternative energy efforts, employee recognition programs, diversity initiatives and community service."

Fed ex is rated in the top 50 companies to work for. I work for fed ex and as an employee I can say from experience Ethics and Social Responsibility plays a big part as it should for any company. Every month managers hold meetings to hear what employee's have to say and if we have any suggestions.

Strategic Planning

Fed ex has a variety of strategic plans that allow them to stay ahead of the competion. Fed ex has all your shipping needs including overnight shipments all over the United States and providing quick shipping services to International destinations all over the world. Fed ex is one of the most reliable shipping service providing many great options to cater to the customer's shipping needs.     According to the Fed ex website the annoncements from one of the Shareholders was " FedEx Express has built, by far, the largest intercontinental air express network. It connects, door-to-door, more than 90 percent of the world's economic activity in one to three business days. It augments the highest service levels in the industry with a broad array of complementary services, including FedEx Trade Networks and new domestic express networks within the U.K., China and India. Through the FedEx Express network, we give customers around the world more choices, more flexibility and more access than ever before.
The FedEx Ground network now offers the fastest origin-to-destination lanes in the ground parcel business nationally, in both the commercial and home delivery sectors. In fact, in the last five years, FedEx Ground has reduced its transit times by at least a day in more than half of its lanes. And FedEx SmartPost is now the industry leader for low-weight packages delivered by the U.S. Postal Service. " 

Fed ex has also branched out to printing. Fed ex bought the printing service formerly known as Kinko's and renamed it Fed ex office. Now you can walk into any Fed ex office not only to drop off packages but also to copy and print almost anything. Fed ex offers a variety of printing needs from poster's, banners, lamintions, window decals, illuminated displays, and much more. No print job is to big.

 

 

Mission Statement

According to the Fed ex Web site Fed ex mission statement is as follows

FedEx Corporation will produce superior financial returns for its shareowners by providing high value-added logistics, transportation and related business services through focused operating companies. Customer requirements will be met in the highest quality manner appropriate to each market segment served. FedEx will strive to develop mutually rewarding relationships with its employees, partners and suppliers. Safety will be the first consideration in all operations. Corporate activities will be conducted to the highest ethical and professional standards.