It seems like Amazon is disrupting just about every aspect of commerce these days. Between allowing customers to click a button when they need more laundry detergent to giving grocery shoppers a checkout-free experience, Amazon is on the cutting edge.
Of course, being an e-commerce platform, shipping is a major part of business, and Amazon has shown it has its sights on changing the shipping game as well.
For this busy holiday season, Amazon leased 40 cargo jets to supplement its shipping capabilities to ensure Prime customers received their orders on time. They called it Prime Air. While Prime Air is only meant to complement the shipping done by UPS and FedEx, it’s still a presence in the shipping portion of the supply chain.
According to Forbes, though, the 40 planes are hardly a drop in the ocean, compared to FedEx’s fleet of 659 aircrafts or UPS’s 236.
But, Amazon’s steps are still important to note. Especially after it acquired French delivery company Colis Prive earlier this year.
Also, Forbes reported that Amazon is working on an app that matches truck drivers with shippers, set to debut Summer 2017. Similar to the app-based delivery services popular in cities, this app likely will make it easier for truck drivers to find shippers, eliminating the middle men who set up the business for a commission.
