Amazon has spent years building one of the world’s most efficient and optimised supply chains. It means that on top of its approximately 40 per cent market share of US ecommerce, Amazon stands to gain an even greater understanding of the shopping habits of global consumers.
The e-commerce giant is focused “squarely on adding capacity to meet the current high customer demand,” Director of Investor Relations Dave Fildes.
Amazon doubled down on its commitment to expand its logistics and fulfillment network on its latest earnings call.
Amazon’s effort to develop an insourced supply chain extends back years with efforts to build out its fleet, develop air infrastructure, hiring employees to staff its fulfillment network and get closer to consumers.
As Amazon adds sort centers and delivery stations, it gets closer to more of the U.S. population. In 2018, 51% of the U.S. population was within a 60-minute drive of an Amazon delivery station, which grew to 77% of the U.S. population by 2021, according to the analysis by UBS.
Even with the investments, Amazon’s one-day delivery service has not yet returned to pre-pandemic levels in the United States, Amazon is also playing catchup to Walmart and Target, which have store networks that can reach 99% and 94% of the U.S. within 60 minutes, respectively.
Growth + Change = Opportunity!