Dive Brief:
- Amazon Business is rolling out its dedicated, branded delivery trucks in 13 states for organizations needing consolidated drop-offs and palletized delivery at loading docks, Daniel Silverfield, head of value and selection at Amazon Business, told Supply Chain Dive.
- The 13-state rollout is composed of Arizona, California, Florida, Illinois, Maryland, New Jersey, Nevada, New York, Ohio, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and Wisconsin, a spokesperson for the company said in an email.
- “The result is delivery that works the way businesses actually receive orders, not delivery that was designed for consumers and retrofitted for work,” Silverfield said in an emailed statement.
Dive Insight:
Since Amazon launched Amazon Business in 2015, it has grown its selection of services to better service organizations as they require a different approach.
"A front porch and a loading dock are completely different delivery problems, and we've built a delivery experience for how businesses actually operate,” Silverfield said.
The rollout of the dedicated, branded delivery trucks comes as Amazon Business made half a billion deliveries last year using the company’s fulfillment network, which includes sortable fulfillment, non-sortable fulfillment, sortation centers, receive centers, specialty and delivery stations.
Amazon’s fulfillment network, with over 200 centers spread across the U.S., helps meet the delivery needs of each customer.
Each location is strategically located to support a regionalized distribution center. Previously, the e-commerce giant had a national fulfillment model and shifted to a regional model in 2023. The shift was aimed to reduce costs and boost delivery speeds.
Amazon has also been investing in its fulfillment centers by increasing its use of robotics.
Most recently, the company said it was planning a 248,687-square-foot sorting warehouse in Georgetown, Texas. The warehouse will be equipped with robotic systems, bringing items to employees for customer orders before packaging and delivery.
“Right up until a product leaves the fulfillment center, associates and automation tools account for speed, cost, environmental impact, and more to determine the best approach for each order,” according to a May 3 Amazon Supply Chain Services blog post.
