Amazon is a US-based technology company that started primarily with eCommerce but later proliferated in other fields as well. The customer demand-based conglomerate guarantees the delivery of every item listed on its website in the shortest possible amount of time. This article focuses on the incredible shipping efficiency of the company and some of the brilliant solutions the company has come up with to beat other shipping companies to become the go-to option for online shopping around the world.
Amazon’s Rise in Shipping Competition
However, the journey to the pinnacle of eCommerce services hasn’t been a smooth one. Starting from shipping services to online casinos, Canada showcases a good digital framework in every aspect, and these sites provide stiff competition against their US counterparts. For example, the country has Purolator Inc., which takes two or more business days to ship to the US and even longer to ship to countries farther away. Although the delivery time is comparable, Amazon’s shipping costs less compared to theirs.
Amazon has come up with several solutions to facilitate time and cost-efficient global shipping. United Parcel Shipping or UPS is an American multinational shipping company on which Amazon used to rely heavily for the delivery of parcels. Over the years, Amazon, alongside being UPS’s biggest customer, has also become its biggest rival. Amazon has started to promote the idea of ‘free shipping’ by including the shipping within the price of the product, all the while requiring less shipping charges anyway because of their countless warehouses spread across the USA and almost all countries of the world.
Amazon released its fourth quarterly data in February 2022, which shows that the company has completed an estimated delivery of more than 5 billion packages in the USA, slightly lower than UPS, which has delivered 5.5 billion packages. However, the twist in the tale lies in the time span of the two companies. UPS was founded in 1907, and it took a century to grow this big. Comparatively, Amazon was founded in 1994 and is expected to surpass UPS this year. It is also speculated that Amazon won’t need to rely on the services of UPS altogether in the upcoming decade. Amazon used to deliver less than 50% of its products when the company began, but the latest reports estimate that the company now delivers 72% of its products on its own without relying on any other shipping company.
What Are Amazon’s Solutions?
Amazon has embraced the rapid growth of technology to work for the development of the company. It has invested heavily in building its own ships, blue in color with its logo all across the side of the 53-foot shipment. They have been using them as private cargo ships to reduce the waiting time of the ships to enter the harbor. Amazon has diverted its cargo ships to smaller, less used ports, followed by utilizing land-based communications for delivery. While the other big companies focused on bigger ports, Amazon found it time and cost-efficient to tie up with smaller ports.
Furthermore, Amazon uses its own trucks, semi-trucks, planes, and vans. They are now switching towards the use of drone technology, which has barely been used in the past. The technology, which is expected to launch later this year, will facilitate their visionary initiative in the delivery process using ‘Prime Air.’
It has also come up with a special feature called ‘Amazon Key,’ which comprises an app, a lock system, and a special key for the delivery person to make an in-garage delivery for Prime members.
What Lies in the Future?
Amazon is not satisfied with just delivering its own products. With smart and generous investment in shipping, the company is now delivering packages for other companies. Amazon has a vision of becoming one of a kind alternative to the US Postal Service. It is already acting as a delivery service to a segment of products on eBay. With its army of personal cargo ships all across international waters, Amazon is aiming to be the top shipping service in the Trans-Pacific region, if not globally.
