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( BW)(PA-FEDEX-GROUND)(FDX) Retailers Look to FedEx for Holiday Shipping Solutions

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    MEMPHIS, Tenn.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 20, 2000--FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX)

    Whether it's in-store or online, FedEx helps retailers such as
    Michaels(R) and L.L.Bean meet peak fulfillment challenges

    As consumers make their lists and check them twice, retailers are poised to take advantage of a 2000 holiday shopping season that, according to the National Retail Federation, will eclipse 1999 figures by at least six percent.
    This year, FedEx is helping retailers -- both bricks-and-mortar and click-and-order -- meet the fulfillment challenges of the holiday retail peak through its extensive air, ground and information networks that include FedEx Express and FedEx Ground, as well as its new residential-ground service, FedEx Home Delivery.
    "FedEx has shipping solutions for all retailers," said Dave Edmonds, senior vice president, FedEx World Wide Sales. "For bricks-and-mortar retailers who still account for the lion's share of holiday sales, the challenge of keeping product on the shelves throughout peak season is one of continuous replenishment and fast turnaround. For online merchandisers, the challenge is to provide not only quality product but a quality service experience as well -- all of which FedEx can deliver."

    Michaels: FedEx Stocks the Shelves

    With more than 600 stores in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, Michaels Stores is the largest specialty retailer of home decor materials in North America, expanding at a rate of up to 80 stores annually. In August, the company also launched its first online sales Web site at www.michaels.com, where it currently sells art prints and in the future also plans to sell craft items, kits and craft books online.
    "The worst possible scenario for any retailer during peak is an empty shelf, because it represents a lost opportunity to sell product," said Robin Moore, director of Distribution for Michaels. "FedEx is an integral part of our distribution planning, not to mention a critical part of the implementation."
    Through the FedEx Ground COLLECT program, Michaels controls the shipping of all products coming into its stores from approximately 1,400 vendors. FedEx Ground provides Michaels with an itemized, electronic list of small-package charges each week via CD-ROM, which the company uses to generate reports on all vendor-to-store shipping activity.
    "We start planning for peak almost a year ahead of time, right after Christmas," Moore said. "In addition to what we ship from our four distribution centers, more than half of the 40,000-plus items carried in Michaels stores are shipped directly from our vendors to our stores using FedEx Ground."
    Michaels also uses FedEx Express for overnight shipping and, with the launch of its Web site, is now using FedEx Home Delivery for residential-ground delivery of art prints ordered online.
    "Because this is a very hands-on market, we view our Web site as more of an idea place -- where customers will buy, but also be motivated to visit our stores," said Moore. "It's totally complementary to our retail sites."

    L.L.Bean: FedEx Helps Fulfill the Promise

    With 88 years of fulfillment expertise behind it, L.L.Bean's promise to satisfy its customers is as reliable as a pair of Bean Boots, the company's first product.
    Today, L.L.Bean offers more than 16,000 different items through its catalogs, its Web site, and its stores in Freeport, Maine, and Tysons Corner, Virginia. Long considered the standard-bearer of the mail-order industry, L.L.Bean will ship over 12 million orders this year from its state-of-the-art Order Fulfillment Center in Freeport, Maine.
    "At L.L.Bean, we're all about customer service," said Mike Perkins, vice president of Distribution Operations at L.L.Bean. "Whether you place your order on-line, over the phone, or through the mail, fulfilling orders with absolute accuracy and prompt delivery is an obsession with us. That's why having FedEx as our primary carrier for home delivery is so important. FedEx helps us maintain that commitment to our customers, and once again we're counting on them to deliver during the holidays."
    L.L.Bean started taking orders on-line in 1996 with the launch of llbean.com. Today, L.L.Bean's Web-based order volume puts it among the top apparel/sporting goods retailers in e-commerce.
    Pat Robles, L.L.Bean's vice president of E-commerce, said: "Last year, many `e-tailers' new to the challenges of mail-order operations experienced major problems with order fulfillment. At llbean.com, we deliver a fast, easy, and risk-free shopping experience. After the customer orders, we rely on FedEx to do the same."
    FedEx delivered hundreds of thousands of L.L.Bean packages throughout the 1999 holiday peak, including more than 124,000 packages on a single day in December. This year, in addition to the services of FedEx Express, L.L.Bean is also using the residential-ground services of FedEx Home Delivery to deliver its products to residences.
    "Across the board, FedEx provides customer-focused companies like ours with the kind of service that really adds value to the products we sell," said Robles.

    With annual revenues of $19 billion, FedEx Corp. (NYSE:FDX) is the premier global provider of transportation, logistics, e-commerce and supply chain management services. The company offers integrated business solutions through a network of subsidiaries operating independently, including: FedEx Express, the world's largest express transportation company; FedEx Ground, North America's second largest provider of small-package ground delivery service; FedEx Logistics, an integrated logistics, technology and transportation-solution company; FedEx Custom Critical, the world's largest provider of expedited time-critical shipments; and FedEx Trade Networks, a provider of customs brokerage, consulting, information technology and trade facilitation solutions. More than 2.5 million customers are connected electronically through the FedEx information network and approximately two-thirds of its U.S. domestic transactions are now handled on-line.

    --30--jsw/clv*

    CONTACT: FedEx Corp.
             Betsy Momich, 412/747-4214
             betsy.momich@fedex.com

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