Having amassed a sizable fleet of trailer trucks, and started negotiations with Boeing to lease as many as twenty cargo jets, it’s pretty clear that Amazon wants to take charge of its own deliveries. The company will further demonstrate this when it completes its acquisition of Colis Privé, a French package-delivery company that Amazon already owns 25% of. This doesn’t mean that Amazon will be taking on the likes of FedEx or UPS anytime soon, but it does suggests that the company is planning to do so in the near future. Taking charge of its own deliveries would allow Amazon to make the whole delivery process more efficient, and better ensure that packages are delivered quickly and on time.
Within a few weeks, Amazon.com will begin competing directly with longtime partners United Parcel Service, FedEx and DHL. But not in the United States. At least, not yet. Sometime in the first quarter, Amazon is expected to acquire the 75 percent of the French package-delivery company Colis Privé that it doesn’t already own. Though the French company is small relative to the multinational giants that move Amazon parcels around the globe, the acquisition will be the biggest step yet that the online retail giant has taken to move into the business of delivering packages for others, as well as itself. Amazon has said little about its intentions. In 2014, it bought a 25 percent stake in Colis Privé. A spokesperson told the French newspaper Le Figaro last year that the deal to acquire the rest of the company would close early this year. And the unidentified spokesperson said Colis Privé will continue offering package delivery for all customers, not just Amazon. “This purchase doesn’t call into question our work with all the other logistics providers (UPS, La Poste, DHL, FedEx),” the spokesperson told the French-language paper. “And it’s out of the question for Colis Privé to only deliver for Amazon. The company will continue developing its commercial portfolio.”
