Amazon announced a new service for sellers – Supply Chain by Amazon (presumably to be referred to as SCA), that it said would help sellers keep products in stock; ship faster and more reliably; and significantly lower their costs.
If you didn’t know what supply chain referred to before 2020, you certainly did out after the pandemic caused a worldwide supply chain disruption, leaving products stranded at various points between the manufacturer and the end-customer. Amazon wants to take the headache out of supply chain for merchants.
Amazon unveiled SCA at Accelerate, its annual seller conference taking place in Seattle this week, explaining it as follows:
“Supply Chain by Amazon will pick up inventory from manufacturing facilities around the world, ship it across borders, handle customs clearance and ground transportation, store inventory in bulk, manage replenishment across Amazon and other sales channels, and deliver directly to customers.”
And Amazon assured sellers they could use it not only for Amazon, but for other sales channels, including online and physical stores.
SCA takes Amazon’s logistics capabilities to a whole new level from a year ago when it announced “AWD” – Amazon Warehousing & Distribution, which was designed to provide low-cost, long-term storage to give sellers the option to store their inventory in Amazon distribution centers and seamlessly replenish to fulfillment centers.
Amazon also announced today the launch of Multi-Channel Distribution (MCD), explaining it as follows:
“Amazon’s selling partners sell across multiple sales channels, including online and physical store locations, and we recognize that keeping products in stock across a variety of channels is a challenge. To address this need, we’re launching MCD, a new capability that moves sellers’ products in bulk from AWD to any sales channel, allowing sellers to replenish across all their sales and fulfillment channels from a single inventory pool. This capability simplifies supply chain management and allows sellers to save on costs by consolidating inbound shipping. MCD also offers sellers the benefit of billions of dollars of investment in Amazon’s distribution network and technology, allowing sellers to maintain the right inventory levels across their sales channels and ultimately grow their business. Currently, MCD is running as a pilot program with an initial set of sellers, and it’s expected to be available to all sellers later this year.”
Dharmesh Mehta, Amazon’s Vice President of WW Selling Partner Services, said, “We are excited to help sellers, both on and off Amazon, save more money, drive more business growth, and have more time to continue inventing amazing products for customers.”
More information about the program is available on Amazon.com, and Tuesday’s announcement is found on AboutAmazon.com.
It’s a big move for the company, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy tweeted the announcement on Tuesday morning.
