E-commerce giant Amazon has launched a new business line as a third party logistics provider (3PL), opening up its sprawling warehousing and transportation network to any shipper, not just those who sell goods through its online platform.
Seattle-based Amazon today announced it has formed an arm called Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS), which extends the company’s entire portfolio of freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping solutions to businesses of all types and sizes.
The move marks a progression that began Amazon originally developed those services to power its own retail operations and to support independent selling partners worldwide, the company said. Over the past three years, hundreds of thousands of Amazon sellers have used the company’s logistics network to move, store, and deliver hundreds of millions of packages across third-party facilities, warehouses, and sales channels beyond the Amazon store. The launch of ASCS now builds on that trend, supporting third-party logistics for businesses in industries such as healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and retail.
“Amazon is bringing the infrastructure, intelligence, and scale of its supply chain services—proven over decades—to businesses everywhere, much like Amazon Web Services did for cloud computing,” said Peter Larsen, vice president of Amazon Supply Chain Services. “Supply chain wasn’t just a function at Amazon—it was core to providing an exceptional shopping experience. Our differentiator. The reason we could offer fast, dependable delivery that nobody else could. And with the launch of ASCS, we’re confident we can give any other business access to the same cost efficiency, reliability, and speed that we’ve built for Amazon customers.”
The new ASCS opens with four main business customers. Procter & Gamble is using Amazon’s freight services to transport raw materials to production facilities and move finished goods across its distribution network; 3M is leveraging Amazon’s freight services to move products from its manufacturing sites to distribution centers worldwide; Lands’ End is using a unified inventory pool within Amazon’s network to fulfill orders across multiple sales channels; and American Eagle Outfitters, Inc. is using Amazon’s parcel shipping network to deliver online orders from its American Eagle and Aerie website directly to customers nationwide.
