Amazon is already in a league of their own when it comes to fast delivery time. Amazon wants to double the number of same-day fulfillment centres, to increase volume and turnaround time even further. They have the capacity and undoubtedly the experience.
Amazon has been around for over 28 years and recently announced it wants to partner with small businesses with an exceptional knowledge of delivery in their communities.
Amazon’s strategy to speed up delivery
Money and time. Those are the two things Amazon has been focused on. They had a complete overhaul of their strategy. It took time, about 4-years to be more specific and $800 million.
Chief Financial Officer Brian Olsavsky told CNBC back in April: ″We’re currently working on evolving our prime free two-day shipping program to be a free one-day shipping program.”
The investment into this vision came at a great cost. It cut into their profit margins. However it all paid off in the end. In July 2023 Amazon recorded 375 million purchases with Prime Day. According to the BBC it’s the largest ever.
Amazon’s network strategy
In order to be more successful Amazon changed their strategy completely. They divided the US into smaller “networks”. Previously they were fielding orders from pretty much any part of the country closest to their operational sites. They now have “eight interconnected regions” and all of them are serving smaller areas within that network. It’s a win-win for customers and business. This way Amazon manages to get the orders out to customers faster, but also at a much lower fee. By placing the product closer to the customers, it manages to ship items from nearby fulfillment centres and deliver it straight to the customers.
Is Amazon revolutionizing the future of same-day delivery?
Amazon’s main focus from day one was to give customers a pleasant experience. One of the key factors is fast delivery. If the delivery time is fast and efficient, it will naturally turn into repeat customers. Locate2u’s CEO Steve Orenstein said this is what Amazon believed in from the start. “They initially started with their third-party initiatives where they used traditional courier providers and over a number of years they’ve been building up their own fleet of drivers. They’ve been doing this across the world. Now they are continuing to do this even further.”
Orenstein believes there was a goal to control the entire logistics experience and it probably started 10-years ago. “Every single year they’ve been chipping away at it. They are getting closer and closer to really controlling the customer delivery experience.”
It’s a bold move, and when they succeed it will change the game completely. “Delivery is a core part of their business. It’s not something that they can just leave to a third party to think about to make sure the product is delivered. They actually want to control it and this is what’s leading to the success that they’ve had and consistent growth inside their business and customers are really happy with they delivery experience.
Is there an exclusive club or what does Amazon offer to non-Prime members?
Amazon is making its Fresh grocery delivery service now also available to non-Prime members in some parts of the US. According to TechCrunch those without a Prime membership can place an order under $50 and pay $13.95 for a delivery fee. But if you spend more, up to $100 you pay a lower delivery fee of $10.95. It works on a sliding scale, meaning the more you spend the less you pay for delivery. It’s capped at $7.95 for orders over $100.
Amazon continues to offer two-hour delivery windows for all customers, including non-Prime members. It plans to offer this offering to all customers nationwide by the end of the year.
About the author
Mia is a multi-award-winning journalist. She has more than 14 years of experience in mainstream media. She's covered many historic moments that happened in Africa and internationally. She has a strong focus on human interest stories, to bring her readers and viewers closer to the topics at hand.
