Salesforce and FedEx on Tuesday announced a new, multi-year partnership that will help retailers improve their digital sales and supply chain operations, with the aim of meeting rising customer expectations for e-commerce.
The deal integrates the Salesforce Commerce Cloud and Salesforce Order Management with capabilities from FedEx and ShopRunner, its e-commerce platform and subsidiary. The two companies will offer different joint solutions, beginning in the spring of 2022.
“Commerce Cloud and Order Management let companies sell wherever their customers shop and fulfill on any channel,” Lidiane Jones, Salesforce EVP & GM of Commerce Cloud, said in a statement. “Pairing that with FedEx’s logistics capabilities lets us deliver an even faster, easier, and cost-efficient experience for our customers. Now, retailers can better meet shoppers’ two-day shipping expectations without accumulating extensive costs or sacrificing their time or brand.”
Managing online retail is challenging enough with consumer expectations set by Amazon’s massive and sophisticated operations. Brands that opt to manage their own online sales –without using the Amazon marketplace — have to use a bevy of tools to manage the end-to-end shopping experience. That covers aspects of online sales from promotions and purchases to delivery and returns.
The Covid-19 pandemic — which moved a huge amount of business into the digital sphere while upending the supply chain — has only it harder. Issues like shipping delays and limited merchandise availability brought down consumer satisfaction in the online retail industry in 2020.
The new partnership between Salesforce and FedEx aims to ease a range of challenges, from attracting new customers and optimizing inventory to managing fulfillment operations.
Salesforce says the merchants on its Commerce Cloud will have access to millions of high-value shoppers that are already actively purchasing through through the ShopRunner platform. They’ll also get insights to give their customers more accurate shipping information — as well as the option to offer two-day shipping and an easy return process backed by FedEx.
