FedEx to expand its on-line services
Federal Express is to offer Internet retailing tools and electronic commerce services in Asia as it extends its on-line network to the region.
The express delivery company says it aims to make shipping a user-friendly exercise for customers by offering on-line services that automate and track deliveries.
FedEx senior vice-president of information and telecommunications Dennis Jones said the new services would be timely as Asia had recently embraced the Internet and electronic commerce.
'This region of the world is a very important aspect of our business. It's especially growing in the area of information technology,' he said.
The company will offer free PowerShip PCs to some of its major customers in Asia.
The dedicated computers - which digitise shipping information input by users - are hooked up to COSMOS, FedEx's global package tracking system.
About 100,000 PowerShips are in place worldwide.
Customers without PowerShip can utilise its functions by using FedEx Ship, free software for modem-equipped Macintosh or Wintel computers.
By linking up to COSMOS, FedEx Ship can process shipping orders, arrange for courier pickups and prepare air bills to be printed via a computer printer.
Mr Jones said PowerShip would remove much of the complexity in shipping and exporting packages.
PowerShip and FedEx ship, now available to customers in the United States, will be introduced in Asia within the next few months.
They will initially be in English version, followed by versions in Japanese and traditional and simplified Chinese next year.
Mr Jones said another FedEx product, now operating in the United States, was coming to Asia. VirtualOrder allowed customers to offer their products on a Web site in cases where they could not create their own.
Aimed at retailers without stores, VirtualOrder is a back-end electronic commerce software package that accepts and processes customer orders and arranges FedEx shipping services.
The package is intended to help budding entrepreneurs.
'They can sell their products to the world; the world will never know how small they are,' Mr Jones said.
FedEx plans to offer double-byte versions of VirtualOrder in Asia by next year.
Mr Jones said the company was a pioneer in the use and development of cutting-edge information technology in its shipping, tracking and electronic document operations.
