Amazon launches Supply Chain by Amazon
Amazon is extending its sophisticated logistics expertise to companies that aren’t currently active on its marketplace. In a recent announcement, the e-commerce titan unveiled its latest offering, Supply Chain by Amazon, which enables sellers to dispatch products directly from manufacturing facilities, whether destined for Amazon or other destinations.
Under this initiative, Amazon will assume responsibility for collecting, shipping, and delivering products to customers from manufacturing facilities worldwide. Additionally, the company will oversee customs clearance, ground transportation, bulk storage, and inventory replenishment. This comprehensive approach allows sellers to alleviate concerns related to their supply chain operations, enabling them to concentrate exclusively on marketing their products and managing sales.
Amazon vice president Dharmesh Mehta said “While FBA [Fulfilment by Amazon] significantly simplified one aspect of the supply chain process, the product journey starts much earlier than fulfilment — often starting with manufacturing,” He added that Supply Chain by Amazon offers a “complete, end-to-end solution” helping sellers manage “their entire supply chain and across all their sales channels, including online and physical stores.”
Alongside the introduction of the Supply Chain by Amazon service, the company is launching Multi-Channel Distribution (MCD), a feature that enables sellers to efficiently transfer products in bulk from Amazon’s warehouses to non-Amazon facilities. simplifies supply chain management” by letting sellers “replenish across all their sales and fulfilment channels from a single inventory pool.” MCD is only available as a pilot with “an initial set of sellers” but should become available to all sellers later this year.
These fresh seller initiatives coincide with Amazon’s ongoing legal battle involving a substantial antitrust lawsuit brought forth by the Federal Trade Commission. Recent reports indicate that the company engaged in a “last-rites” meeting with the FTC last month, often a precursor to a lawsuit. Furthermore, there are speculations that the FTC may officially file its lawsuit against Amazon later this month, with potential scrutiny extending to aspects of its business such as FBA.
By permitting sellers to send products to third-party warehouses, Amazon appears to be addressing certain concerns raised by the FTC regarding its extensive fulfilment operations. Nonetheless, the company has faced criticism for imposing an additional fee on sellers for shipping their own products. Amazon has also introduced other benefits, such as simplified cross-border shipping, expanded access to its previously limited beta Warehouse and Distribution service, and the implementation of automatic inventory replenishment powered by machine learning technology.”
Original Article – Amazon launches Supply Chain by Amazon (supplychainonline.co.uk)
