Federal Express and United Parcel

¶ … Federal Express and United Parcel Service (UPS) web sites

For this comparative analysis paper, the units of analysis used are two competing web sites on the packaging delivery service industry, Federal Express (http://www.FedEx.com/us/)and United Parcel Services (UPS) (http://www.ups.com/content/us/en/about/index.html).The analysis includes a study of each company's web site concerning the following factors: human factor, or the user-friendliness of the site, security, and privacy.

In the first factor, that is, the user-friendliness of the site, Federal Expresses has greater advantage over UPS's web site. In the FedEx web site, the color combination of white and purple dominates the site, which makes it appealing to the user. Its home page has all the links that a potential customer or user may need. There is a complete list of FedEx's messenger and delivery services, tracking program for customers who want to track their shipment online, as well as company information. One of the most important features of the site is its "Track" section, where customers/users can just type and immediately track down whatever service order the user has.

UPS's web site, meanwhile, lacks the colorful lay-out that FedEx has, adopting brown and white as its dominant color scheme. The lay-out of the web site is as detailed as FedEx, although UPS's links are not properly organized and grouped strategically to make navigation within the site manageable and easier. Customers/users' focus tend to center on the site's corporate information section, rather than the services and tracking sections of the company, which is what FedEx's web site centered on. Thus, this makes FedEx's web site more favorable than UPS in terms of user-friendliness.

Once again, FedEx gains over UPS by including within its web site security measures to ensure the user that his/her inquiries and information concerning a particular package or delivery service remains confidential. There is a separate page for tracking shipments, packages, and delivery services through a "Log in" link. Apart from ensuring security, this feature also allows FedEx to keep track of its return customers and patrons, who usually use FedEx's services. The lack of security measures within the web site is a disadvantage for UPS. Not only do they compromise the confidentiality and security of important information that customers may want to know through the site, UPS also forfeits the opportunity to track down and create a database for customers who usually use UPS services and products.