DHL is re-entering the U.S. parcel delivery industry. The growth in e-commerce has caused the shift for DHL and brings in new competition to UPS and FedEx.
DHL announced that it is launching same-day and next-day delivery service for online retailers in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles. The service will expand to more cities throughout the U.S. by the end of the year. The move to launch the delivery service will increase competition for UPS and FedEx.
Launching delivery services in more populous areas echoes a strategy employed by Amazon, who has been handling deliveries from its own fulfillment centers in at least 37 U.S. cities.
Under DHL’s new Parcel Metro service, vehicles and drivers will not display the DHL brand. Consumers will be able to see a picture of their driver and follow deliveries to their doorsteps on a map.
The company has been testing its new delivery services over the last two years. The service engages drivers through crowd-sourced applications for deliveries within a few hours and taps into local couriers and delivery companies for one- and two-day deliveries, using its e-commerce’s warehouse facilities to consolidate orders.
The move is just a stepping stone for the firm before it becomes big enough to fully compete with FedEx and UPS.
DHS pulled out its U.S. express-delivery unit in 2008 aafter acquiring smaller operators like Airborne Express and battling the right to fly cargo aircraft in the U.S.
The firm has since focused on international parcel shipments. DHL was currently the cause of U.K.'s KFC chicken shortage.
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