Hello FedEx Office. FedEx is reportedly eliminating the Kinko’s brand and leaving their own on all stores starting sometime soon. FedEx acquired Kinko’s in 2004, so the name is theirs to toss, but any time a company eliminates a strong brand they face trouble. In FedEx’s words:

“Kinko’s was primarily a copy- and print-service provider when it was acquired in 2004,” said Brian D. Philips, president and chief executive of FedEx Office. “The name FedEx Office more accurately represents our broader role. … We are a back office for small businesses and a branch office for medium to large businesses and mobile professionals.”

Since when was FedEx about the back office? That was always UPS’s territory while FedEx built their brand around reliable overnight delivery. The stores may have become a back office for small and medium businesses, but have they done so as FedEx or as Kinko’s?

The UPS Store

And speaking of UPS, they actually did this successfully a few years ago when they acquired Mail Boxes, Etc. and renamed it to the UPS Store. The renaming worked very well for them, mostly for reasons that do not apply to FedEx. Mail Boxes Etc. was never as strong of a brand as Kinko’s, while UPS had already started to establish itself with some backoffice credibility. On the other side, the Mail Boxes Etc. shtick had always been about shipping first, other stuff second, making it easy to move the brand for UPS. Today this differentiation still works – when you visit a UPS store you see more shipping material than copiers while a Kinko’s is all about document preparation

FedEx’s Path Ahead

FedEx has a very difficult path in front of it. I have a feeling this won’t work out so well for them and that in a year we’ll wonder why they spent $891 million doing this in the first place. Besides, when was the last time you heard someone say “I’m going to go make a copy at FedEx.” When one strong brand disappears, it’s usually the competitors that win. Expect some turmoil in the office supply and copier space soon.

© Stanton for Stanton Champion, 2008. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: brand, fedex, kinkos, marketing, merger, ups

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