Amazon.com becomes a logistics provider for all
Amazon directly attacks freight forwarders and parcel services: The group's logistics network is now open to all companies, even if they do not sell via Amazon.
An Amazon.com delivery van in Vancouver, Canada
(Image: Daniel AJ Sokolov)
Amazon.com Inc. is now also an independent logistics provider called Amazon Supply Chain Services. Companies can order transport services even if they have nothing to do with Amazon's online shops. The offer also includes related services such as packaging and packing, storage, and customs clearance for imports from the People's Republic of China to the USA.
The group announced this on Monday. According to the announcement, the entire Amazon logistics fleet is ready, with airplanes, trucks, and shipping. It does not necessarily have to be delivery to customers: One of the partners with whom Amazon tested the offer before its market launch uses it to have raw materials brought to its factories. Another has Amazon transport the finished products to its distribution centers in several countries.
Amazon has already successfully implemented a similar strategy: the cloud division, known as Amazon Web Services (AWS), originally served to operate the company's own online shops; from 2002 onwards, it was gradually opened up for services to third parties. For example, since 2006, Amazon has been unbureaucratically selling server computing power for self-configurable Linux servers on demand.
Also for third-party web shops
Amazon Supply Chain Services also explicitly supports competing online shops. A uniform warehousing and delivery system is also possible. Companies can have goods that they offer both on their websites and via Amazon stored and delivered by Amazon -- regardless of which online shop the order is placed through.
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The range extends from individual packages to Less-Than-Truckload (LTL) to fully loaded semi-trailers. In the USA, Amazon also accepts goods from over 50 other carriers and transports them further.
It is currently unclear which services are available in which countries. The company also does not provide information on the transport of dangerous goods. Amazon Supply Chain Services will clarify such details upon request from potential customers. The service is not intended for consumers who occasionally send a package or want to move their household goods.
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