You shop, it ships

A Danish shipping giant is betting that your online purchases of appliances, furniture and sweatpants will be the next phase of its growth.

Maersk, which moves nearly a fifth of the world’s ocean freight, recently purchased Visible, a logistics company with nine US e-commerce fulfillment centers that warehouse and pack orders for retailers. With the acquisition, Maersk says, it can fill orders and get them to the doorsteps of 95% of all US households within two days.

The company’s strategy: Combine its fleet of 700 container ships with warehousing expertise to stitch together a supply chain offering port-to-door service. Doing so, Maersk says, will lower costs for both retailers and customers by minimizing package handoffs to outside contractors, a common practice in the industry. It’s part of a bid to capture more of the money you’re spending online.

The plan is to attract customers who sell from their own platforms and need help fulfilling orders, said Brian Bowers, Visible’s chief operating officer. Amazon’s multichannel fulfillment service also targets these sellers, and though the company didn’t provide data on how many third-party sellers use it, it’s not the largest part of its fulfillment business. Visible offers customized packaging, allowing retailers to maintain control of their branding through the delivery process. The setup also means fewer giant packages stuffed with plastic air bubbles. It’s a move away from selling things through popular online marketplaces run by Amazon, Target or Walmart. “We find clients who want to do something different,” Bowers said.

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Maersk and Visible have something the e-commerce giant doesn’t: Hundreds of container ships around the world. Maersk owns or charters more than 700 ships and has a subsidiary, APM Terminals, that operates 76 port terminals. Maersk has a big source of potential customers for Visible’s fulfillment services because those containers hold millions of tons of consumer goods, many of which will need to be shipped directly to a customer once they make land.

“We find clients who want to do something different,”

Visible also touts proprietary software that optimizes delivery through one of the company’s five shipping partners: UPS, FedEx, USPS, DHL and Pitney Bowes. Amazon also optimizes deliveries.

Additionally, Visible works with the retailers to customize package sizes and get brand logos on the boxes they ship. That can lower shipping costs for retailers, Bowers said. It can keep the company that made the product front of mind when you open the package, instead of making the Amazon, Target or Walmart logo the first thing you see when you receive it. That addresses the loss of awareness that prompts people to say something like “I got it at Amazon” about things they actually bought from another merchant.

Read the entire article here: https://www.cnet.com/tech/you-shop-it-ships-maersks-bid-to-challenge-amazon/

Source: CNet