Starting next year, FedEx will deliver packages seven days a week, something it currently does during the holiday season.

FedEx said the move will help it meed growing demand from online shoppers and retailers.



FedEx plans to deliver packages seven days a week starting next January. Its announcement Thursday marks the latest escalation in the race for faster deliveries as retailers and logistics companies compete for online dollars.

Fedex already delivers seven days a week during the holiday season. It's now expanding the practice year-round for most of the U.S., it said. "FedEx Ground will deliver to residences every day of the week beginning in January 2020, because shoppers don't run on business days – they run every day," the company said on Twitter.

FedEx is also taking back nearly 2 million daily deliveries to homes that are currently handled by the post office. The company said that shifting these SmartPost packages back to its own network would make drivers more efficient, by giving them more deliveries bunched closer together.

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The move will allow FedEx to keep up with the demands of online retailers and shoppers, Chief Operating Officer Raj Subramaniam said in a press release. "Delivery density has consistently been a challenge with e-commerce," he said.

The delivery giant expects the number of packages sent daily to double in the next six years.

UPS does not deliver on Sundays, except for "urgent healthcare" items, a spokesperson said, adding that "we have the capability to expand our portfolio should we choose to do so."

Last month, Amazon surprised many by making one-day shipping the default for its 100 million Prime members. Walmart followed two weeks later, implementing free next-day delivery on 220,000 items.

-- CBS News' Irina Ivanova contributed reporting.