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Amazon Expands Logistics Network to Outside Businesses
Amazon Supply Chain Services Covers Freight Transportation, Distribution, Fulfillment and Parcel Delivery
Key Takeaways:
- Amazon launched Amazon Supply Chain Services, opening its freight, fulfillment and parcel delivery network to businesses beyond its marketplace.
- Amazon said early users include Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End and American Eagle Outfitters across freight, inventory and parcel shipping.
- Businesses can access the service through supplychain.amazon.com, with offerings spanning freight, distribution and fulfillment and parcel shipping.
Amazon.com Inc. is broadening its role in freight and logistics with the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services, a new offering that makes its transportation, fulfillment and parcel delivery network available to businesses beyond Amazon’s own marketplace.
The service gives retail, wholesale and commercial businesses access to logistics capabilities Amazon developed to support its own retail operations and independent sellers. Amazon said the offering covers freight transportation, distribution, fulfillment and parcel shipping for companies moving goods ranging from raw materials to finished products.
“Amazon is bringing the infrastructure, intelligence and scale of its supply chain services — proven over decades — to businesses everywhere, much like Amazon Web Services did for cloud computing,” said Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services. “Supply chain wasn’t just a function at Amazon — it was core to providing an exceptional shopping experience. Our differentiator. The reason we could offer fast, dependable delivery that nobody else could. And with the launch of ASCS, we’re confident we can give any other business access to the same cost efficiency, reliability and speed that we’ve built for Amazon customers.”
Amazon said Procter & Gamble, 3M, Lands’ End and American Eagle Outfitters are among the first companies using the service.
RELATED: What Amazon Supply Chain Services Means for Logistics
Procter & Gamble is using Amazon’s freight services to transport raw materials to production facilities and move finished goods through its distribution network. 3M is using Amazon freight services to move products from manufacturing sites to distribution centers worldwide. Lands’ End is using a unified inventory pool within Amazon’s network to fulfill orders across multiple sales channels, while American Eagle Outfitters Inc. is using Amazon’s parcel shipping network to deliver online orders from its American Eagle and Aerie websites to customers nationwide.
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(Amazon News via X)
The launch extends Amazon’s supply chain services to businesses in industries including healthcare, automotive, manufacturing and retail. The company said hundreds of thousands of Amazon sellers have used its logistics network during the past three years to move, store and deliver hundreds of millions of packages across third-party facilities, warehouses and sales channels outside the Amazon store.
Amazon ranks No. 1 on the Transport Topics Top 100 list of the largest logistics companies in North America and No. 1 on the TT Top 50 list of the largest global freight companies.
Logistics at Scale
Amazon Supply Chain Services includes three core areas: freight, distribution and fulfillment, and parcel shipping.
The freight operation spans ocean, air, ground and rail. Amazon said that network is supported by more than 80,000 trailers, more than 24,000 intermodal containers and more than 100 aircraft. The company said its freight services include time-sensitive shipments, simplified booking, customs clearance and shipment visibility.
The distribution and fulfillment component is designed to help businesses import inventory from overseas, store products in bulk, position inventory closer to demand and fulfill orders across sales channels, including company websites, e-commerce marketplaces, social media channels and physical stores. Amazon said the service uses a unified inventory pool and forecasting capabilities to support inventory placement and fulfillment.
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A worker at a New Jersey Amazon fulfillment center in December. (Michael Nagle/Bloomberg)
The parcel shipping service covers orders from multiple sales channels and offers two- to five-day delivery speeds, seven-day-a-week service, pickup from company warehouses or third-party providers, drop-off locations and tracking features including photo-on-delivery.
Businesses can access the service through a centralized console at supplychain.amazon.com.
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