UPS and Amex Collaborate for SMB Tech Savings
Two renowned brands, UPS and American Express, have announced a strategic collaboration to aid small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) as they navigate the complexities of fulfilment and finance, particularly during the increasingly busy holiday season.
The alliance, revealed at the annual UPS Impact Summit, offers exclusive incentives accessible for the first time through both companies.
These benefits aim to streamline how small enterprises manage their shipments, transactions and customer demands during the peak trading periods.
Integration of leading solutions
UPS, one of the foremost logistics providers globally, operates in more than 200 countries and boasts an annual revenue of US$91.1bn.
Its comprehensive logistics services encompass everything from air freight to ground delivery, with nearly 500,000 employees dedicated to moving the world forward by delivering what matters.
American Express complements this with its extensive experience in global payments and support across 100 million merchant locations worldwide, catering to everything from credit solutions to premium lifestyle services.
For SMBs, this collaboration signifies accessibility to tools that ease transactions, stabilise cash flow and provide security during high-demand intervals.
The new set of exclusive offerings is available through the American Express Business Savings Suite.
These offerings encompass discounted rates on UPS shipping services – ranging from air to ground and international – and introduce a tiered system that rewards high shipment volume with greater savings.
“UPS and American Express have both been trusted for over a century," says Matt Guffey, Chief Commercial and Strategy Officer at UPS. "Bringing our expertise together creates a powerful ecosystem for small businesses."
“UPS is making strategic investments in areas important to SMBs like industry-leading service, flexible returns and seamless integration with our end-to-end smart logistics network.
"We know what it takes to help small businesses be unstoppable and our collaboration with American Express is the perfect extension.”
The focus is to link the logistical and financial lifelines into a cohesive support system, providing SMBs with straightforward access to affordable delivery paired with credit solutions to manage operational expenses during critical sales periods.
Sustaining Beyond the Seasonal Surge
Though the collaboration serves immediate relevance for the year-end sales peak, the UPS and American Express relationship is cultivated to sustain business growth beyond the seasonal influx.
Additional promotions and benefits are on the horizon, encouraging a more integrated service structure for SMBs to bolster business infrastructure.
Currently, the partnership delivers an uncomplicated value proposition: ship more, save more and manage it all with innovations geared toward flexibility and expansion.
By centring on logistical and payment functionalities, UPS and American Express anchor operational dependability at the core of their offering – a fundamental need for many small firms, particularly in high-pressure periods.
This partnership equips businesses facing heightened challenges during festive seasons, facilitating ease of access without complexity.
Importance of Logistics in Digital Growth
The landscape of ecommerce and in-store sales necessitates quick, adaptable and dependable delivery for customer satisfaction.
This requirement is amplified during holiday seasons, when volume peaks and delays present higher risks.
The partnership between UPS’ logistics prowess and American Express’ financial offerings provides a practical mechanism for smaller enterprises managing the challenges of scale and cash management.
Colleen Taylor, President of US Merchant Services at American Express, says: “Small businesses drive commerce around the world and behind-the-scenes essentials like logistics and payments keep these businesses running.
“During the critical holiday season, when every transaction counts, small businesses often rely on credit cards to manage cash flow, stock inventory, and meet surging demand – all while ensuring timely shipments.
"That’s why Amex and UPS are teaming up to support small businesses during this make-or-break time of year.”
This dual challenge of meeting demand while maintaining efficient operations is what this partnership seeks to ease.
For SMBs already leveraging UPS for fulfillment or American Express for payments, the offers are readily accessible.
Business Card Members can log into their accounts through the American Express Offers page to check eligibility and activate savings.
