Amazon’s Shipping Process
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Amazon’s Shipping Process
Abstract
Amazon.com, an international online retailer for various commodities has an elaborate shipping process. Customers place their orders online and merely wait for the products to be freely shipped right at their doorsteps. Nevertheless, for the first time since starting operations, Amazon recently raised the minimum purchase necessary to have the customer’s order shipped at no cost. The usual 25 U.S. dollar threshold for free saver shipping is now 35 dollars. The change, announced briefly on the company’s website, took customers by surprise. Many clients, most of them who have saved much money during that time are now wondering whether to reach the threshold purchase or obtain products from elsewhere. Additionally, there is a recently invented shipping system: anticipatory shipping. This paper explores these two major changes in the shipping process.
Amazon’s Shipping Process
The process of shipping is quite elaborated but easy for customers to understand. The customer is expected to pay with a valid American credit card: MasterCard, American Express, or Visa. Amazon may also accept international credit cards. Products prices are listed in the United States dollars, with pricing and availability bound to change without prior notice. Once the shipping has been confirmed, it usually takes 2-5 business days for the ordered commodities to be delivered. In the past, Amazon has notified their client by e-mail in case the order is unavailable for delivery immediately. If any commodity is back-ordered, then the shipping could take up to 10 business days. After submitting an order, the buyer receives a confirmation email from Amazon. This email summarizes the purchase and provides the buyer with an order number. He or she is required to save and print this email – it is the customer’s official receipt. When the order has been shipped, again the customer receives a confirmation email with a unique tracking number. There are also instructions on how the client will track his or her order. For all the processes, the customer is required to use a valid Canadian credit card: Visa, MasterCard, or American Express (Jaffe & Price, 2014).
It is worth noting not all orders qualify for shipping even if the minimum threshold purchase is made. Some of the reasons why an order may not qualify for free shipping include ineligible items on the order. In addition, commodities that are shipped by sellers individually and unfulfilled by Amazon are often not eligible for Amazon’s free shipping service. It makes sense, according to Amazon’s chief executive officer (Schepp, 2013). The provision was made in the light of the fact that Amazon's profit margins have become notoriously thin in less than a decade, and because shipping is not cheap. It is believed the company may encourage its customers to add more to the shopping carts when the minimum purchase is raised. In turn, this will boost sales figures.
The shipping address the buyer submits to Amazon.com has to be American – orders with non-American addresses are usually not processed. In addition, Amazon does not ship to P.O. Boxes. At the address stated, there has to be someone to receive the order anytime during the day at all working days. Unless there are other specifications in the shipping instructions, a signature is always required for every delivery. If the customer lives in the rural areas, the route addresses should include a phone number and street address. For those who live in apartments, the requirement is that they use the shipping instructions in the buzzer section of Amazon’s website. Additionally, they should include special instructions if they want their commodities left without a signature. Amazon’s courier service is extremely patient; it attempts to deliver a package at least three times, and then offers alternative pick-up methods or delivery if the customer is not available. The shipping confirmation email usually lists his or her tracking number, linking to information valuable for contacting the service for additional details. In a bid to ensure a traceable and reliable delivery, Amazon employs highly trusted courier companies. Nonetheless, neither Amazon nor the courier service holds responsibility for information that is not correct or missing altogether. Packages whose delivery information is insufficient are returned to Amazon (Bensinger, 2014).
Recently, Amazon patented a novel shipping process they referred to as ‘anticipatory package shipping. The process involves sending products to fulfillment centers close to the clients most likely to buy them, before the latter even orders for them. Amazon has come to be called the innovation machine, which keeps chugging along because of this innovation and many others it has come up with in the past. The basic idea for the speculative shipping is forecasting demand for a particular geographic region, whether that is an apartment, building, state, or metro area on say, daily basis. The innovation is expected potentially to reduce inventories network and speed up orders to customers. It may not be quite far out there like drone-based deliveries, but the level of thinking is out of the box for sure (Love, 2014).
Of course, Amazon has never shipped a product ahead of time unless there is a clear demand for that product. To assess the demand, reports Amazon’s chief executive officer, factors as a consumer's previous orders, wish lists, product searches, shopping cart and returns data are all taken into account. Prospective shoppers that linger over a particular item with the cursor of their mice may also attract the attention of Amazon. The example in the patent has illustrated a speculative system of shipment that deploys commodities to given geographical locations. If a customer close to that location places an order matching a nearby package, it is then redirected to the final destination. The implication is that, for instance, the box set of Flying Circus cannot arrive on the client’s doorstep unannounced. However, it does mean that Amazon is likely to shuffle the commodity to a distribution center nearer the prospective customer for faster fulfillment when he or she inevitably succumbs to his or her love of a particular product and clicks the ‘checkout’ button (Rajan, 2013).
The patent apparently implies the delivery addresses are changed at the hub of the carrier. The only logical solution is that as a package is received at this hub, the identifier is read, and another shipping label applied if need be using a special automated printing and application system. Nevertheless, this creates extra labeling and processing costs for the carrier because only a small proportion of packages require to be handled in this manner, slowing down all the parcels. Systems that are more modern might be used someday, but even then, it will be desirable to have a traditional label going along with the package in case there is a failure of the tag.
Conclusion
The Amazon shipping process, especially the new, anticipatory one, is not only lengthy but also quite difficult to go through, as are shipping systems in other companies. However, it is unique and interesting, and that is why Amazon has chosen to patent it. In the patent, it is clear that a set package may have to pass via numerous hubs on its way to a given geographic location. Each of these stops presents opportunities for redirection of a parcel based on forecast information. Anticipatory shipping, though Amazon’s latest development, which already feels straight out of the future, may not last long. Jeff Bezos, the CEO, has unveiled Prime Air, which is a fleet of drones for shipping goods. These could be available in a period of 4 to 5 years.
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