The Hindu : UPS to launch Internet shipping

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Mar 04, 2003

Business

Business

UPS to launch Internet shipping

By Shanthi Kannan

CHENNAI MARCH 3. Many enterprises are now redefining their roles in the marketplace to gain and maintain competitive advantage in the Internet economy. United Parcel Service (UPS), one of the largest express carrier and package delivery companies, is no exception to this.

According to Matthew McGee, Vice-President, Marketing, UPS (Asia Pacific region), the success of UPS can be attributed to two factors — technological advancement and development of international partnerships. It is a one-stop supply chain solutions company providing detailed information about its shipments and easing its payment process by providing customers inventory financing.

Mr. McGee said the company's global strategy of setting up `brown' operations had been adopted in India. This meant that all UPS operations adopted the same quality and technology standards, that is, uniform logo, vehicle colour and technology.

The company will introduce UPS Internet Shipping in the third quarter of this year. It is one of the convenient Internet-based shipping solutions. This meant that customers anywhere could ship their products/consignments through UPS and access the stored details. Mr. McGee said through e-mail ship notification merchants could inform their customers about the status of their order, the tracking number and shipment information.

UPS in India formed a 60:40 joint venture with Jet Air, a sister concern of Jet Airways, in 2001. Its initial investment in India was Rs. 22 crores. In the first phase of expansion, it started operations in Mumbai, Delhi, Chennai and Bangalore. In the second phase, it reached out to Moradabad, Pune, Jaipur and Ahmedabad. It plans to set up offices in Coimbatore, Tirupur, Hyderabad and Kochi this year.

The company had introduced its Delivery Information Acquisition Device (DIAD II) technology which provides package tracking and tracing services to customers.

On the strategy for the Asia Pacific region, he said UPS had set up a company, UPS Capital Corp, to help customers with inventory financing. It is a strategy to help speed up the flow of funds.

The pick-up and delivery business was a $62 billion market and the supply chain business $3 trillion. UPS was evolving beyond package delivery into a $3 trillion global supply chain industry, he said.

The Director and CEO of UPS Jetair Express Pvt. Ltd., Jeff Fairbairn, said UPS had recently rolled out SM tracking service. By using a local telephone number, one could get the information quickly. He said the revenue from Asia grew by 24 per cent and from Europe by 13 per cent. In Asia Pacific, nearly 65 per cent of UPS business came from express packages business.

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