As Amazon enters its first holiday season under the shifting shipping standard of one-day delivery, the tech giant is looking at a new way to make its vast network of fulfillment centers more efficient.
- The company is testing a new program called Amazon Storage and Replenishment, in which the tech giant rents cheap warehouse space near its fulfillment centers to give sellers room to stage their inventory and quickly replenish items that are selling fast, according to a report from Bloomberg. Amazon is testing the program with warehouse space in Ontario, Calif., about 20 miles from a distribution center. Amazon plans to expand the program to other locations around the country.
- Amazon has in the past increased fees for merchants to store goods during the busy holiday season, potentially deterring some sellers who don’t want to pay extra to warehouse products that may or may not sell, Bloomberg reports. The temporary warehouse space allows Amazon to continue offering space to merchants while also avoiding cluttering its distribution centers with excess product.
- Amazon is preparing for a busy holiday season. Consumers spent a record $4.2 billion shopping online on Thanksgiving and another $7.4 billion on Black Friday, per Adobe Analytics. The firm expects shoppers to drop another $9.4 billion on Cyber Monday.
We’ve reached out to Amazon, and we will update this post if we hear back.
