Amazon are to encourage more trade with the Far East, they’ve just registered as a freight forwarder which means they’ll be able to sell space on ships to merchants wishing to move goods around the world.
Amazon are rapidly expanding their logistics arm, they’ve couriers to deliver products to consumers, planes to move goods around EU and soon the US and are about to start collecting goods from retailers.
The company registered is Beijing Century JOYO Courier Service Co. Ltd, Amazon’s Chinese operation. What we don’t know is who will benefit from the service.
It’s likely that Amazon will use their ship booking service to move goods from China to the West, but will this be for goods for Amazon the retailer, for Chinese merchants wanting to sell on EU and US Amazon sites, or for merchants based in the West who want to source products from Chinese factories?
It appears likely that Chinese merchants will be the biggest winners, gaining the ability to ship goods direct to Amazon fulfilment centres for sale on Amazon sites, but we’ll have to wait and see how the service is made available and to who.
The one thing it does demonstrate is Amazon’s logistics aspirations aren’t ending with the journey from Amazon’s or retailers warehouses to the consumer. They also want to be able to control the journey from the factory to the retailer as well.
One Response
Standard shipping agents struggle to handle cargo that goes into fulfilment centres from 3rd parties to amazon, due to having to pallet, wrap, label and label per box, per product etc.
This has been set up to handle all this and more for foreign 3rd party sellers using fulfilment worldwide.