FedEx Kinko's Rolls Out Small Stores to Outmaneuver UPS

FedEx Sees A Way To Cut Into UPS' Core Business by Using Hub System of Smaller Print Shops

DALLAS - Last week Monday, FedEx Kinko's announced it is building hundreds of new, smaller copying stores in a move designed to take shipping business away from rival United Parcel Service Inc. The new 1800 square-foot stores are roughly one-third the size of the average Kinko's store. Kinko's, a quick print retailing division of FedEx, says most of the smaller stores will rely on the full services of its larger stores for support. The quick print retailer plans to launch some 300 hub stores within the next year. That is on top of the 201 locations it opened this fiscal year.

The push into smaller markets by FedEx and UPS is motivated by the desire to go after the more lucrative small business market that pays higher premiums for parcel services. Kenneth A. May, chief executive of the Kinko's unit, told the Associated Press that the 200 smaller stores opened last year posted higher shipping volumes and revenues, but declined to give figures.

Richard Hallabrin, a spokesperson for The UPS Store, said that UPS in Atlanta was exploring its own opportunities for growth.

The UPS Store operates some 4,400 franchise stores compared to 1,700 corporate-owned FedEx Kinko's print shops.

Read more from David Koenig, AP Business Writer

--

Other readings:

FedEx Kinko's CEO, Ken May, says 300 small stores this year, 400 more the next