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It’s no doubt that Amazon revolutionised the shopping world. In a relatively short space of time, the multi-billion-dollar company has taken our shopping habits out of the high streets and placed them firmly online.
Some will say, of course, that this is not a good thing and Amazon has led to, or at least contributed to the downfall of the traditional high street. Others will signal that this is not the first time shopping habits have changed and those that have suffered were simply too slow to react to the modernisation of the shopping environment.
Delivering our shopping
As Amazon grew, so did the demand for better, tracked and on time shipping. Using third-parties such as couriers and haulage firms ran the risk of shipments being lost, damaged or not delivered. In true style, Amazon simply reacted. They developed Amazon Shipping.
Amazon Shipping is the delivery arm of the business, from online order to front door, your parcel now passes through the hands of Amazon employees or contractors the whole way. They have developed their tracking platform to provide up to date information about the whereabouts of your parcel and the estimated delivery time and are able to deliver (quite literally) on target promises such as one day delivery.
What’s next for the mega-company
Well, we know that Amazon have long been working with and testing new delivery methods. One of the most impressive (and slightly unnerving) is the use of Drones to make deliveries. It will soon be entirely possible that we have the little robots whizzing above our heads carrying the trademark Amazon smile delivery parcels 365 days a year. Perfect if you forgot to buy batteries for Christmas gifts…
Outside of that, it will be interesting to see how they grow their infrastructure. Will Amazon develop the delivery arm further by moving into haulage? Will we be seeing Amazon trucks, boats and even planes making large scale deliveries world-wide? Expansion is not a new concept for Amazon, of course, using their own software and warehouse management capabilities, they developed and now sell Amazon Web Services, for example, which is used by organisations such as the owners of Formula One to provide their insight data.
We don’t know how long it will be before Amazon has tankers and cargo ship traversing our oceans, if of course they don’t already. When the day comes, if it comes, will this be a threat to the large haulage firms? Possibly, but that’s never really worried Amazon before. And let’s be honest, of we keep buying from them, they’ll keep expanding.
Not bad for a company that started as an online bookstore!
No doubt Amazon uses a large fleet of vehicles already whether that be land, sea, air or drone. Perhaps it won’t be long before they offer these for commercial or private hire or sales too. In the meantime, companies such as Sertica, who provide Fleet Management Software will be ready and waiting when the call comes to assist.