What does any good company do when it lags behind a competitor in a vital sales driver? Good companies develop competition to suit the niche. Think McDonald’s Café to compete with Starbucks and the coffeehouse giants. Think N’Sync and the Backstreet Boys. Competitor businesses thrive because they pull at the same demographic. When competition wages, the better supplier usually does not win outright though; instead, they remain vital rather than being swallowed and forgotten. This all matters because when the FedEx merger acquired Kinko’s, it saved its life and maintained healthy competition with UPS. Many people at the time of the merger even predicted that the merger would signal the end of UPS’s dominance in the industry. However, an equalization resulted, as is common with competition. The UPS Store, providing printing, laminating and paper services was no longer alone in the industry after FedEx partnered with Kinko’s.

In the newest move, FedEx renamed their retail printing and digital stores from “FedEx Kinko’s” to a more simple “FedEx Office.” This name change ushered in the final wave of competitive cognition for the two battling companies. Now that UPS has a direct competitor without the stigma of the old Kinko’s, it will begin to see customer loyalty even out between the shops.

Both sources offer the same conveniences, making competition about the cost of service and the perks. Currently, FedEx Office is offering lower prices for many of their services as they continue to fight for a slice of the customer pie, but their long-term cost analysis will make the low prices untenable. What really happened in the FedEx merger was more strategic than even making FedEx a copy competitor to UPS.

At the time of the merger, though both companies mailed parcels, UPS was seen to have the brawn with large delivery, while FedEx was known for its overnight services. People began to forget FedEx’s niche when UPS surged ahead with the UPS Store. FedEx merged with Kinko’s and overnight, you might say, they regained their diversity and maintained a fighting effect in the US and global market. Upon further research, the two companies are so versatile, that they are simply apples and oranges to one another. Both companies fill a distinct need in the parcels industry.