Ordered in the morning, delivered that evening: how does Amazon do it?

The Secret to Amazon’s Rapid Service

Have you ever stopped to think about how Amazon manages to have any of their products ordered delivered that evening? This e-commerce behemoth uses a very smart and lean strategy. Their technique is based on “just in time” delivery, where products are created when the order is made, not before. Their method is called “Amazon Fulfillment Services”.

Why Having Products Delivered That Evening Has Set a New Standard

Amazon first set a major precedent and a new standard for shipping when it introduced its offer of “free shipping over $25”. It then began to offer more rapid delivery for customers, which was useful for businesses purchasing products in bulk or for individuals purchasing products during the holiday season. One of the most important aspects to shipping products is the commercial invoice that reflects a bill of lading and details on duty that may be applied to goods arriving in different countries. Amazon’s delivery service helps smaller businesses to circumvent these small details and fulfills these shipping requirements on its own. This means faster B2B (business to business) and B2C (business to consumer) transactions.

How Amazon Fulfillment Works

The new Amazon Fulfillment Service incorporates hundreds of warehouses across the continent so products can be delivered that evening. If a product is being sold by Amazon, it already exists as inventory in their warehouses. In this case, employees working in the warehouse are directed to the correct aisle and they can fulfill or “complete” the order, making it ready for shipping, according to priority. Buyers that select priority or 1-day shipping on checkout have their products delivered that evening. But, if a product is being sold through Amazon via a third party retailer (example: Kitchen Aid selling its products on Amazon), then the company (or person) can choose to select “Fulfillment by Amazon“, ship the product over to the Amazon warehouses using prepaid shipping tags that Amazon provides those participating in this service and Amazon is responsible for delivering the product based on when it’s required.

Of course, fulfillment services by Amazon are available to all third-party sellers for an extra cost. For buyers, this is usually a guaranteed way to have the product delivered that evening, if the overnight shipping is chosen on checkout. Make sure to read the shipping details as third-party sellers who take responsibility for shipping their own goods might specify a delivery time of 4-6 weeks, depending on where they are shipping to.