ESW and FedEx Express Announce Strategic Collaboration

Alliance enables frictionless cross border e-commerce selling and shipping for European brands

09.05.2023, Hoofddorp – ESW, the global direct-to-consumer (DTC) ecommerce company, and FedEx Express, a subsidiary of FedEx Corp. (NYSE: FDX) and the world’s largest express transportation company, today jointly announced a strategic collaboration providing integrated e-commerce and shipping capabilities for European-based brands looking to accelerate their growth by selling and shipping globally.

With this new offering, FedEx Express customers in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy and The Netherlands, and ESW clients based in Europe will have access to a highly localised and customer-centric online experience, leveraging the FedEx Express global logistics network for frictionless delivery and returns– all through a single integration.

“In this time of economic headwinds and inflationary challenges, brands are re-evaluating regional growth opportunities and looking across borders to find new ways to grow revenue, optimise inventory and improve margins using a cross-border strategy,” Martim Avillez Oliveira, Chief Executive Officer of ESW – Europe and UK, commented.

This alliance gives brands the ability to access a one-stop solution that combines ESW’s technology and deep localisation expertise with a logistic service that significantly expedites the global speed of product delivery for European-based brands through a capital-light approach using a single integration. Together, FedEx Express and ESW are further underpinning our mutual commitment to removing barriers and alleviating the friction that often impedes brands and retailers from selling directly to consumers cross-border.

“The FedEx Express and ESW alliance is a perfect example of how we are innovating to respond to the needs of our customers, offering new capabilities to enable the growth of their businesses through an expanded e-commerce ecosystem. This alliance with ESW offers FedEx Express customers the ability to sell and ship seamlessly enabled by new global DTC opportunities,” Toby Hay, Managing Director e-commerce Marketing at FedEx Express, commented.

ESW’s “Global Voices: Consumer Pulse 2022” survey of more than 14,000 consumers across fourteen countries highlights that while consumers are increasingly ready to shop for comfort, convenience, and variety across borders, length of shipping and cost are the two biggest barriers to buying internationally. Transparency and customisability of the shipping journey are also critical to the customer experience, with 70% of survey respondents saying they wouldn’t buy an item from an international website if they weren’t given an initial indication of when the item would arrive, and a further 73% reporting they wanted the option to choose from either free standard shipping or paid-for fast-track shipping when purchasing from an international website.

Brands integrating with ESW’s DTC solutions can enter both domestic and new international markets in a matter of weeks and access a suite of market-leading ecommerce solutions across store, pricing, payments, checkout, fraud detection and delivery.