UPS (UPS) and Amazon (AMZN) are frenemies and their codependence means they just can’t seem to break up with one another. So, what does that mean for the future of their relationship?
“Amazon is a customer of ours. We have a mutually beneficial relationship. We also see them as somewhat of a competitor,” said David Abney, UPS chairman and CEO. “So we watch them just like we would anyone else.”
In an interview with Yahoo Finance’s On The Move, Abney said the company is “leaning in” to e-commerce and explained how its relationship with Amazon is not a “zero-sum” game.
“It's really an opportunity. As long as it makes sense for us to do business with Amazon and vice versa, that is exactly what we will do. But just remember that e-commerce is a lot more than Amazon,” he said. For UPS that means doing business with large- and mid-sized retailers and “enabling” small- and mid-sized companies to compete with giants like Amazon.
UPS moves over 30 million packages a day and with recently increased capacity it can handle 400,000 pieces every hour. The company is also exploring partnerships with multiple companies to provide drone delivery.
“Drones and our Fly Forward initiative is really a big step for us in embracing technology and in charging forward to the future, “ said Abney. “We are partnering not only with CVS, but with AmerisourceBergen, and with Kaiser Permanente. So three big multinationals. And that will be much more important part of our business.“
And as UPS continues to diversify its business beyond Amazon they are developing more partnerships including recent ventures with Shopify and Stamps.com
“That's going to bring one and a half million small- and mid-sized businesses to the UPS logistics network. So real excited about that,” said Abney.
Yvette Killian is a producer for Yahoo Finance’s On The Move.
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