Addressing the Amazon Effect: Staying Relevant in a Changing Marketplace

Consumer preferences are changing amid a massive retail shift toward e-commerce. Amazon’s inventory selection and Prime shipping have forced other businesses to pivot in their go-to-market strategies.

Throughout the supply chain, companies are pressured to increase order fulfillment speed. In addition, those orders are frequently smaller (driven by B2C relationships), which increases operational complexity in fulfillment centers. Nevertheless, even with expedited return procedures, customers have a lower tolerance for inaccurate orders and business executives must realize the difference in cost between customer retention and new customer acquisition.

Technology—both hardware and software— have changed the pace of fulfillment operations. However, many businesses are finding difficulty maximizing their operational efficiency when deciding which technologies would be a best fit for their application. This white paper dives into methods of selecting appropriate technologies and how to execute a phased implementation.