Presentation: E- Supply Chain Management
Practical example of an E- business and its supply chain
Conclusion
The Amazon supply chain is an astounding achievement in retail logistics.
The Bezos machine is continually optimizing every link in the chain to
make good on their promise of customer satisfaction – and their goal of
becoming the preferred retailer in America and beyond.
This goal is actually also a key driving force behind the continual
development of the Amazon supply chain. As the retail giant has
responded to growth, it has never failed to invest in service expansion to
both support this growth and fuel more.
Warehousing –
• Company’s warehousing strategy is that it wants to make sure that products sold on
their marketplace are accessible anytime from any place on Earth.
• All Amazon’s warehouses are situated near large population hubs. They have well-
formed communications and logistics network allowing to transport products from
one place to another. Amazon has even put small warehouses near not very large
towns to improve the customer experience of those people who don’t live in
megapolises.
• Inside Amazon warehouses, everything is also strategically structured. Each
warehouse has 5 storage areas, there are robots which pick and pack products and
move them from one place to another if necessary.
Delivery –
• Plenty of various delivery options is what makes Amazon different from other
retailers and marketplaces. Users of Amazon Prime can receive their orders in several
hours or less. People who don’t want to wait for several days while their order is
arriving can use fast Prime delivery.
• The inventory is distributed between them determined to ensure that the supply can
still satisfy demand, primarily around major metropolitan areas and other population
centres.
• Except for trucks, air, and sea delivery, they own drones (for Prime Air users) which
can land orders on shoppers’ backyards.
Manufacturing
• As we all know, Amazon cooperates with third-party sellers, still, the company has
found out that they can produce all these products for cheaper prices and get more
profit if they order their own procurements. Manufacturing of such low-cost items and
white-labeling items from third-party sellers have become part of the whole Amazon
supply chain strategy.
• They now offer branded lines in anything from products for pets to household goods,
and the list is constantly growing.
• What’s more, manufacturing products allows Amazon to control the whole cycle of
creating and selling products. They produce, store, and ship them.
Competitive advantage –
• Amazon’s supply chain management includes technology, as you
could already understand from the previous points about drones and
robots. These automation solutions are here to pick and pack
orders, as well as deliver them to your customers.
• Technology helps Amazon fulfill orders as quickly as possible and
save on staffing costs. So, they free funds for investing them in
improving other supply chain areas.
• As for the Prime Air program, it is not full-functional yet, but we
assume this a matter of time. Customers who want to take
advantage of using this program with drones need special Amazon
landing mats.
The automation of this vast network is a brilliant move, particularly as
warehouse staff are becoming harder and harder to find. Electronic
commerce has raised competition, but fewer are able to take on these
jobs. That also means that there is an impending pay increase.
Amazon has kept ahead of the curve and ahead of raising costs by engaging in robotics early
on for automating warehouse operations.
