Chasing Amazon: Building a Dynamic Warehouse Network

Amazon has changed consumer expectations. It has become a retail giant by improving the customer experience at every stage in the purchasing lifecycle - including personalized recommendations, pricing and availability, free and same-day shipping and hassle-free returns.

It turns out (and this shouldn’t surprise anyone) that consumers want access to more stuff.

They want to buy it as quickly and easily as possible.

They want low prices. And, they don’t want to wait for the products they buy.

That’s precisely what Amazon is offering and why they’re so successful.

Some of those advantages are tied closely to their innovative approach to supply chain design, particularly pricing and quick delivery.

In order to compete, most of Amazon’s competitors are feverishly playing catch-up.

If your company is among them, reassessing your supply chain design is a good place to start.

Amazon Prime members enjoy free two-day shipping on many of the items they purchase.

This benefit creates four primary problems for Amazon competitors:

• More Sales for Amazon
• New Shipping Standard
• Low Shipping Rates
• Shopping Cart Sell-Through

At the core of nearly every one of their disruptive services, Amazon has found a way to gain a competitive advantage by using innovative logistics as a strategic weapon.

The key to competing in this quick-turn, fast-shipping environment is lowering total delivery times while also lowering distribution costs per order.