The holy grail of commerce and ordering online is being able to guarantee successful delivery. And the Amazon Hub offering plays to that goal.
As we wrote earlier in the year, it’s an Amazon system that can be bought or leased by apartment block administrators to expedite safe and secure parcel delivery.
Amazon has now said it is will install delivery lockers in apartment buildings across America just in time for holiday shopping. Complex owners will pay $10,000 to $20,000 up front for the “Hub by Amazon” lockers but will not be charged a subsequent fee for usage.
The delivery lockers will be equipped with mobile connectivity so that residents can gain access to their packages using their phones. They will receive mobile notifications when packages arrive, including a code for retrieving them.
The Seattle based ecommerce beast has also already signed contracts with apartment owners and managers representing over 850,000 units, including ones from AvalonBay Communities Inc., Equity Residential, Greystar and the Bozzuto Group.
Owners and managers are saying Hub by Amazon will save their employees hours of package sorting on a daily basis. Hub will accept packages from all carriers and will also handle parcels when they haven’t been placed on Amazon.
Needless to say we’re all familiar with the lockers that we see at petrol stations and shopping centres and transport hubs. But this is a very specific solution that is based around the American culture of apartment blocks. It means there are safe and easy to use within apartment block and workplaces. The fees for Amazon Hub cover the manufacture and installation costs and everyone wins. Amazon specifically gets a reliable place where it can drop parcels.
2 Responses
It is a good idea, though Amazon should charge other carriers 30 cents per delivery to use the hub, with this Amazon can use the proceeds to service the lockers and make a small profit on them. I presume that over time Amazon will use the hubs to sell its own logistics delivery system to companies, where Amazon will cut out UPS and others. Let’s say there are 90 million American household s and 20 per cent are apartments that will equate to 18 million units across America, so Amazon has a way to go.
Great service, I use their lockers all the time.
Secure lockers have struggled to take off in the UK I think in part due to the lack of retailers offering the service and the challenge of multiple carriers and retailers trying to deliver into the same location without visibility of the number of ‘slots’ available.
Totally makes sense for Amazon as they will own the customer and order data and it’ll probably be their logistics delivering to a locker. I would suspect the majority of orders will be on Amazon and delivered by Amazon.
The interesting point (and probably the most challenging) is that they plan to accept other non-amazon deliveries and other carriers. Trying to ensure that they’ll be space to accept a parcel into the locker come Black Friday will become very interesting indeed (and hopefully not too frustrating for the consumer).
I also agree with Kevin – This is Amazon we’re talking about. They will def find a way to monetize it.