The Amazon Effect on Amazon Prime Day

This year we again saw Amazon Prime Day as the largest shopping event in its history, with its one-day delivering program offering more than 10 million products from “coast to coast.” Most notably, it was officially extended an additional 24 hours, which meant another full day of deals and steals delivered to your doorstep within hours of your purchase.

While Amazon may have been the first big retailer to make a splash with previously un-seen delivery times, others are following suit. Earlier this summer Amazon rival Walmart started rolling out one-day delivery in limited cities, and Target just expanded its same-day delivery. With giants like these making moves like that, it’s no wonder customer expectations are at an all-time-high. As consumers, we want faster responses, instant gratification and seamless, high-quality experiences.

To provide the most value and ensure they’re fulfilling their customers’ needs (and orders) retailers need to differentiate their products and services. Competing with one-day delivery could be extremely overwhelming - and not necessarily lead to success.

As Steve Dowse, SVP Product Management said in an interview with Logistics Management, “To be truly valuable, logistics providers should collaborate with their customers, carriers, and other service providers on a neutral digital platform. A digital platform, with a central repository of supply chain data from multiple sources unleashes the power of AI. This helps all organizations throughout the supply chain reduce costs, streamline processes and raise supply productivity.

Leveraging AI can help ensure inventory availability to meet customer demand and to fulfill hard-won orders through physical in-store and e-commerce channels, while keeping focused on tight inventory control and logistics costs. Without access to shared data and collaboration tools, retailers will not be able to keep pace with companies that do. “

Supply chain innovation is at an all-time high, and while the desire for instant gratification is a competing factor for retailers, there are other strategies to keep up with the “Amazon Effect”.

To learn more about the Blume Digital platform, please visit www.blumeglobal.com/solutions