Anyone that buys on Amazon has probably experienced an Amazon Logistics delivery. They’re starting to deliver more and more Amazon Retail and Fulfilment by Amazon (FBA) products for third party sellers than ever before.
We know that Amazon Logistics are starting to collect from merchants who self fulfil Amazon Prime eligible orders and today’s news that Amazon intend to build a ‘Global Supply Chain by Amazon‘ network and eventually replace traditional carriers for all FBA orders shows that they’ve hardly got started with their logistics aspirations.
The question that’s not really been addressed is will Amazon one day become a default carrier option for all businesses and consumers? At what point will Amazon Logistics stop being a private courier network for Amazon deliveries and when will they start being a courier option that anyone can access.
Of course it’s already possible for online retailers to use Amazon Logistics – simply put your stock into an FBA warehouse and Amazon will fulfil order for your website, for eBay and anywhere else that generates an order for you. This is all handled through Amazon’s ‘Buy Shipping’ API so the technology for booking Amazon Logistics deliveries is already in place.
What we don’t know is for those merchants for whom Amazon are shipping self fulfilled Prime orders, can they also ship non-Amazon orders via Amazon Logistics and if not will they be able to do so in the future?
Would you use Amazon Logistics instead of your current courier, especially if they offered tracked next day delivery at a very competitive rate?
3 Responses
Answer your question YES. I cannot help but be impressed with FBA. Each week I move more lines away from eBay who have become a shambles, and on to Amazon. if there is an issue with a AMAZON delivery it is dealt with. RMG business claims are also a shambles. Cheap but take no responsibility.
My RMG sales have stayed much the same over the last year as the year before. I have however increased overall sales by 40% purely by using AMAZON. I am currently putting AL as a courier option into my own webstore along with their payment GATEWAY.
AMAZON are just getting e-commerce right, and the rest are floundering.
What Sam said – with bells on!!
A.L and Amazon as a whole are fast becoming the perfect solution. What happens when they become “tescos” is a different matter. Hopefully they will still deal with business in less of a cut throat manner that Tesco’s did. All hail Amazon.
From a customer experience point of view, no. Amazon Logistics started in my area fairly recently and the service is pretty much at the level of Yodel. Previously Amazon used DPD who provided a much better service. The AL service offers no tracking detail and delivery success is variable to say the least. I don’t use Amazon as much any more as a consumer.
As a merchant almost certainly not, the service would be a downgrade from our current couriers and giving even more control to one company seems to be a very short sighted idea for smaller merchants. The current trend seems to be screw everyone in a race to the bottom, with ‘Self employed’ drivers being paid peanuts, so you end up with poor service as your staff are very quick to leave and aren’t motivated to do a good job.