FedEx’s ShopRunner e-commerce platform launches new mobile app
FedEx is attempting to offer a streamlined, mobile experience for users of its ShopRunnner e-commerce solution.
The shipping giant purchased ShopRunner, which directly connects consumers with more than 100 retailers and brands, in December 2020. The new ShopRunner app is designed to simplify online shopping. With a single mobile entryway, each user’s feed can be optimized through their browsing and purchase history to help them discover relevant new brands and connect with established favorite retailers.
In addition, the app interface is designed to let consumers intuitively and securely purchase, ship, track, and return items. Other services for consumers include free two-day shipping, free returns, exclusive discounts, and seamless checkout. The app also provides dynamic customer support content tailored to where an order is in its delivery schedule.
Once they enroll in Shoprunner, customers will receive automatic, real-time, shipper-agnostic tracking for ShopRunner online orders. ShopRunner’s data-driven marketing and omnichannel enablement capabilities are also designed to help retailers acquire customers and accelerate digital innovation.
ShopRunner is also unveiling a new promotional campaign called “Shop Boldly.”
“ShopRunner is giving e-commerce the makeover it deserves through an approachable mobile app to help people overcome today’s frustrating and overwhelming online shopping experience,” said Claude Russ, CEO of ShopRunner. “With simplicity at the center of ShopRunner, our goal is to unlock a more enjoyable way to shop while also making it easier for merchants to build loyalty with their customers.”
FedEx continues bolstering Amazon competition
When FedEx purchased ShopRunner, the company said it hoped to create an “open, collaborative e-commerce ecosystem that helps merchants deliver seamless experiences for their customers.” While Amazon was not mentioned by name, there is little doubt FedEx seeks to create an e-commerce environment that can compete with the e-tail giant.
Other steps FedEx has taken to make ShopRunner more competitive with Amazon include entering a multi-year partnership with Salesforce that integrates the Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Order Management platforms with Shoprunner. This followed a similar Adobe Commerce integration launched in April 2021.
FedEx and Amazon have been engaged in a slowly growing rivalry for the past few years, as Amazon has been building up its proprietary delivery capabilities in an effort to minimize its reliance on third-party delivery providers such as FedEx. Recent examples of Amazon’s efforts to achieve delivery independence include partnering with Hawaiian Airlines to expand its air fleet and moving forward with drone delivery plans.
Meanwhile, FedEx recently added a commercial lane in Texas in collaboration with autonomous technology developer Aurora Innovation Inc. to test Aurora’s autonomous driving technology within FedEx linehaul trucking operations that move cargo long-distance.
Other notable steps in FedEx actively competing with Amazon include everything from electric delivery vehicles to providing hosted e-commerce services. And FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp., recently teamed up with Bay Area-based Elroy Air to test Elroy Air’s Chaparral autonomous air cargo system within the company’s middle-mile logistics operations.