Surging online orders drove sentiments for shippers such as FedEx and United Parcel Service (UPS). At the same time, food deliveries are a bright spot for ride-hailing companies with Lyft seeking to expand into the segment, says GlobalData, a leading data and analytics company.

Rinaldo Pereira, Senior Analyst at GlobalData, says: “The sentiment recovery for shipping companies faces lesser threats of stalling, as online shopping is likely to thrive amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Meanwhile, ride-hailing companies are expected to gain from bolstering respective food delivery businesses and investments.”

Shipping companies’ sentiments grow

FedEx and UPS have witnessed reduced business-to-business (B2B) growth, yet sentiments grew by around 13% and 34% in Q3 2020*, compared to Q2 2020, due to improving revenues, margins and e-commerce spikes. Logistics businesses continue to ramp up digital solutions to leverage the upcoming holiday season demand boom. One example is Microsoft teaming up with FedEx for enhancing its digital infrastructure.

UPS’ consumer deliveries grew by around 63% in Q2 2020 due to the online delivery spike. Both FedEx and UPS are preparing for record-breaking peaks during the 2020 holiday season by keeping up service levels despite COVID-19 challenges. Both shippers also continue to strengthen distribution channels for the delivery of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Ride-hailing companies’ sentiments grow despite headwinds

Despite lockdowns and social distancing struggles, UBER witnessed growing sentiments (over 3% in Q3 2020) due to the growth of its UBER Eats business. With ride bookings down by over 70% year-on-year (YoY) in Q2 2020, the delivery business took center stage with bookings up by over 120%. The company’s delivery business has overtaken its ride-hailing services, as Uber continued narrowing its losses in Q2 2020.

Lyft’s delivery business was not extensive during Q2 2020, yet it experienced sentimental growth. According to Lyft, ride bookings were on the slow uptrend in August 2020, and in September, it had the highest rides since April 2020. Interestingly, Lyft also reported positive bike ride revenue growth during the quarter. Lyft has also announced a partnership with Grubhub to pursue its food delivery expansion strategy.

*Transcripts for Fiscal Q2 2020 released between July and September 2020