You wouldn’t pay more for a new car that didn’t have air conditioning
and air bags. So why are DCs paying thousands more for less
capable mobile computers and voice applications?
Jennifer™ Mobile for Smartphones includes feature-rich applications
on rugged smartphones that are faster, lighter, have be;er screens
and longer ba;ery lives, and cost a lot less. That’s the smart choice.
Learn about DCs using Jennifer Mobile for Smartphones, and see if
smartphones are right for you.
www.lucasware.com/smartphonesDCV
Ge;ing More For Less.
That’s Smart.
an Amazon trucking fleet that supports
not only its own same-day delivery service
but also (potentially) that of other companies would pose a serious competitive
threat to 3PLs whose primary market
niche is transportation. Fourth, Amazon’s
expansion into the business-to-business
space through Amazon Supply could
take many industrial customers away
from 3PLs. Fifth, Amazon might leverage its investment in cloud technology
to become a clearinghouse for a steadily
increasing share of e-commerce business.
And finally, Amazon could be in the
process of making a committed move
into third-party logistics. One respondent
suggested that Amazon’s core compe-tencies appear to be shifting to those of
a traditional 3PL in such areas as order
management, inventory control, delivery,
and billing. More importantly, as another suggested, Amazon could spin off its
logistics function as a 3PL serving clients
in a variety of industries.
THE BIG QUESTION
Based upon our survey results, it is clear
that the CEOs of 25 of the largest 3PLs
in the industry believe that Amazon has
already had a significant impact on the
field of supply chain management. Nearly
one-quarter of those 3PLs currently provide logistics services to Amazon. While
acknowledging the retailer’s disruptive
impact on the field and its expansion
of supply chain and logistics activities,
only six of the 3PL executives consider
Amazon to already be a 3PL, but 17 of
them see the online retailer as a potential
competitive threat.
In the opinion of the authors, in many
situations Amazon already acts as a
third-party logistics service provider. The
company has an enormous fulfillment and
distribution infrastructure in place that
provides its customers with a full range of
logistics services, including order manage-
ment, warehousing, inventory manage-
ment, fulfillment, distribution, and returns
management. Smaller companies can rely
upon Amazon to provide a virtual supply
chain for them. The actions Amazon has
taken to develop its own transportation
capabilities may be a forerunner of a move
into the realm of for-hire transporta-
tion in selected markets. At the same
time, Amazon Supply has now tar-
geted the business-to-business mar-
ket in an aggressive strategic move
that is likely to pull customers away
from traditional 3PLs.
The big question is, what are
Amazon’s plans in this regard? Does
the company want to become a
major player in third-party logistics?
It certainly has an infrastructure that
would support such a move. It has
also developed a solid reputation as
an innovative company that regular-
ly delivers on its ever-expanding and
aggressive marketplace promises.
