Amazon Continues to Push Faster Shipping Times With New Changes

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Amazon is pushing the envelope once again to speed up its shipping times to customers.

A series of new infrastructure and procedures have been implemented by Amazon to speed up customer delivery times. First reported by the Wall Street Journal last week, it’s clear that Amazon is not content with two-day or one-day shipping and wants even faster delivery times.

Some of the new changes include better, modernized inventory management platforms used internally at Amazon, quicker delivery times, and more literal capacity. During the Covid pandemic, Amazon’s resources were expanded, and many of the effects of that “all hands on deck” effort to deliver pandemic essentials quicker is now being seen.

Amazon’s expanded infrastructure and facilities are leading the way towards faster deliveries.

Covid forced Amazon to upgrade and improve its infrastructure. Over the past two years, warehouse space owned by Amazon basically doubled in capacity. That has allowed goods to be stored at more regional-based fulfillment centers rather than warehouses further away from the delivery destination.

Additionally, with expanded warehouse space, Amazon hired numerous new workers to staff the new warehouses. That has allowed a sea change: instead of spending more money and for Amazon to potentially lose money on a cross-continental shipment, the new warehouses allow more regional autonomy and localized fulfillment. As a result, it’s become cheaper and more efficient to ship goods to customers, even with faster delivery times.

The new “regions” created by Amazon are already helping the company fulfill orders faster.

In his annual Amazon shareholder letter, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said: “Each of these regions has broad, relevant selection to operate in a largely self-sufficient way, while still being able to ship nationally when necessary.”

The effects of this are being seen by customers, who have noticed faster delivery times and more flexible delivery options. In the long-term, it’s sure to be a winner.

Of course, the trend of customers wanting goods faster and more efficiently, while reducing greenhouse gases and the carbon footprint of companies they buy from is not going away, so large retailers and nationwide e-commerce platforms like Amazon must make changes to account for this trend.