5 Technologies That Enable Amazon To Deliver On Its Prime Promises

Amazon Inc. is an American multinational technology corporation based in Seattle that focuses on e-commerce, digital streaming, cloud computing, as-well-as artificial intelligence. 

Amazon is the largest online marketplace, a live-streaming platform, AI assistance provider, and cloud computing platform in the world, as calculated by revenue and market capitalisation. 

In 2007, Amazon launched Amazon Prime, which offered an unlimited one-day delivery membership programme for over a million products. 

Amazon introduced three things with Prime - 

  1. Sped things up offering one-day delivery when most customers anticipated to pay for delayed delivery service
  2. Enhanced the predictability and assurance of one-day delivery
  3. Unlimited use of Prime with a single annual membership

Technologies That Facilitate Prime Deliveries

Amazon stores products that are eligible for Prime shipping in its warehouse. Every time a seller receives an order, rather than shipping from the location of the seller, they ship the product from the warehouse that saves about 2–3 working days. 

Amazon spreads various products of a single seller across different warehouses throughout the country. Hence, when you place an order of a product that is available in the warehouse of your state, delivery is viable within 48 hours. 

The Operations Technology teams of Amazon are the critical engines that facilitate its mission of being the most customer-centric company on the planet. 

Here are five technological tools employed by Amazon to make sure they keep their promises about their Prime deliveries - 

1. Amazon Logistics (AMZL)

Amazon Logistics is the delivery service employed by Amazon to deliver products with reduced timeframes. After an order has shipped, you can track it conveniently on their website.

From 'Your Orders,' you can identify tracking information in your order details. If an order contains multiple items, each displays separate delivery dates as-well-as tracking information. 

Amazon provides you with the facility to track the Amazon Logistics order on any 3rd party package tracker if you have the tracking link or URL of your product ordered. 

You can find the link by vising Amazon, then clicking on the 'Orders' page and clicking the 'Track Package' button. 

Samsara is the leader in Industrial IoT and helps increase the efficiency, safety, and sustainability of the operations executed in your fleet.

You can use Samsara as a reliable fleet management software to gain better insights about your fleet movement while being in transit.

2. Amazon Map Tracker

The Amazon Map Tracker is a feature launched by Amazon recently, which has expanded to an extensive number of users as viewed by the Android Police and confirmed by CNET.

The feature provides you with a real-time map of your Amazon package delivery while in transit, enabling you to watch a dot on the screen just like tracking an incoming Uber or Lyft driver. 

You can track the progress of specified shipped packages on a live map in real-time. You can access this by clicking 'Track Package' from either 'Your Orders' or your 'Shipment Confirmation e-mail'. 

On the day of delivery, you can view the map when the driver is approaching your home in real-time.

The feature provides the exact moment when an Amazon delivery would arrive at your doorstep. It also shows you the stops or deliveries the driver needs to make before arriving at your residence.

3. Amazon Key

Amazon Key is an in-home and in-car delivery utility that enables authorised shippers to have access to the home of an Amazon Prime customer, post office box or car trunk in some cases. 

The entire purpose of Amazon Key is to inhibit packages from getting stolen by delivery agents or by robbers in between transits. 

Amazon Key uses Cloud Cam and smart lock provided by Amazon to monitor delivery agents dropping off packages inside your residence.

On the day a package is due for arrival, the customer receives a notification through the Amazon Key app with a four-hour delivery window.

Amazon sends another notification just before the delivery agent arrives at your home. This way, it makes the delivery on time with no delays beyond a two-day timeframe.

4. Amazon Planes And Trucks

Since Amazon has to meet the two-day delivery window for Prime members, Amazon aeroplanes take a departure from over 20 airports around the country. 

Amazon places these packages onto metal containers called Unit Load Devices that can hold hundreds of crates apiece in artfully slotted stacks.

Each plane can carry 30 or more containers, which is the equivalent of over 10,000 Instant Pots. 

Once the packages land on the ground, the loading team loads them onto Amazon trailer trucks that carry over 2,000 boxes at a time.

These trucks bring orders from fulfilment centres to sortation centres, a place where packages get distributed by location to meet the delivery period.

You can use Samsara for fleet tracking in your supply chain as it can provide you with real-time data about the route status of your fleet as-well-as a dashcam to record the trip and the behaviour of the driver.

5. Prime Air

Prime Air is a drone delivery service that is currently in development by Amazon. The operation will materialise soon and will provide deliveries in brief intervals.

The service employs delivery drones to fly individual packages to customers autonomously within 30 minutes of placing the order. 

However, to qualify for 30-minute delivery, the product must be less than 5 pounds (2.25 kg), should be small enough to fit in the cargo box, and must have a delivery station within a 10-mile (16 km) radius.

Amazon has patented a beehive-like structure to contain delivery drones in cities, enabling it to move from large single-story warehouses used to house packages temporarily for prime eligible orders.

On December 15, 2016, Amazon started its first publicly accessible trial of Amazon Prime Air to those within a couple of miles of the depot of Amazon in Cambridge, England. 

Amazon had built a Prime Air fulfilment centre in Cambridge. Amazon Prime Air drones will remain connected to the internet to facilitate flight control management and communication across drones.

The Pittsburgh Journal of Technology Law and Policy has revealed the proposed data collection from Amazon Prime Air drones that includes -

  • Automated object detection
  • GPS surveillance
  • Gigapixel cameras
  • Enhanced image resolution

With Prime Air, Amazon can reach new benchmarks of delivery time for various products and also ensure reliability as it would not involve delivery agents.

Final Words

With the escalating competition across e-commerce websites, it is paramount to deliver products within a defined period with minimal to no delays.

With the launch of Amazon Prime, Amazon has assured the delivery of products within a two-day window for selected products. 

This concept was a difficult one to implement; however, with the aid of various technological tools and methodologies, Amazon has met this deadline with premium efficiency.

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