Through the new service, Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), the company is opening up its capacity in freight forwarding, distribution, warehouse management (fulfillment), and package delivery to all companies, regardless of size. The offering is aimed at players in industries such as retail, manufacturing, automotive, and healthcare.
Historically, Amazon's logistics tools have primarily been used by independent sellers on the company's own marketplace. With ASCS, the business model is being broadened. The company itself compares the launch to how it previously commercialized its internal IT infrastructure through the cloud service Amazon Web Services (AWS).
Amazon is making available the infrastructure, intelligence, and scale of its supply chain services, proven over decades, to companies everywhere, much like Amazon Web Services did for cloud infrastructure, says Peter Larsen, Vice President of Amazon Supply Chain Services.
The offering gives companies the ability to choose specific logistics services as needed. The core offering consists of:
- Freight: Transportation of goods by sea, air, road, and rail. Includes customs clearance and track and trace.
- Distribution and Warehouse Management: Ability to import, store, and manage customer orders from multiple sales channels, such as own web shops, external marketplaces, and physical stores, via a common inventory balance.
- Package Delivery: Delivery solutions for e-commerce orders with delivery times of two to five days and service seven days a week.
Several companies have already integrated the new service into their operations. Procter & Gamble and 3M are using the freight services to transport raw materials and products between manufacturing plants and distribution centers. American Eagle Outfitters is using the package network to deliver customer orders from its own websites, and Lands’ End is using the network to manage inventory.