A round-up of some of the week’s biggest stories from FedEx, Bang & Olufsen and Skechers.
FedEx unphased by Amazon as results dragged down by European weakness
A story earlier this month saw Morgan Stanley analyst Ravi Shanker claim that Amazon’s air freight business could sap revenue from FedEx and UPS, which currently handle up to 50% of Amazon’s package volumes.
The issue of competition with Amazon was brought up on a conference call with CEO Fred Smith to discuss the company’s second quarter results.
Smith said that Amazon was “a wonderful company in service and…a good customer” but that he didn’t see them as a peer competitor and thought it was doubtful this would be the case.
He said the idea FedEx could be “disrupted” was “fantastical”.
The company saw revenues rise 9.2% as US growth was offset slightly by a weaker economic climate in Europe.
Bang & Olufsen revenues dragged down by logistical problems
Danish electronics company Bang & Olufsen has blamed problems in its logistics network for a decline in its revenues.
The company saw revenues fall 9% year-on-year in the second quarter, which it attributed to a range of problems in its logistics operations. It claimed that it had seen a time-lag effect from a combination of its sales and distribution network.
It said it had changed to a more direct distribution model, which had particularly impacted sales in the EMEA and Americas regions, as well as a change of distributor in Oceania which had hit Asian sales.
It also said problems onboarding a new logistics partner had created delays in fulfilling orders.
The company said it would share more information on 8 January.
Skechers expands distribution centre in Belgium
Footwear brand Skechers is expanding its use of automation in its distribution centre in Liège, Belgium.
Looking to accommodate rapid turnover growth, the brand introduced 3.5km of new conveyor technology, as well as a new sorting machine and other equipment.
Skechers expects to make use of the new capacity by November 2019.
Sophie Houtmeyers, VP Distribution Operations: “Skechers Europe, but also worldwide, anticipates further growth in the coming years and that is why we opted for an expansion of the automation in the EDC. Our satisfaction with the current systems encourages us to address the same partners.”
The facility serves the three channels of direct-to-consumer sales, Skecher stores and wholesale customers.