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Improve Your Warehouse Visibility Like Amazon | LoadProof

 


Amazon is the elephant in the room where any supply chain conversation is happening. Everyone is chasing that Amazon effect. Everyone is trying to figure out how to deliver on the expectations of customers that Amazon and its business models have created.

Retrofitting Amazon’s strategies or tactics for another business is tough. In terms of order volume and order profile, Amazon is its own kind of beast. At the same time, it makes sense to look at some of Amazon’s most groundbreaking tactics to see what lessons can be learned by electronics distributors. Trying to be Amazon won’t work, of course. However, there are ways to improve operations in ways that take into account your operating environment, merchandise profiles, and business realities.

1. Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime, the annual subscription offering from Amazon, is a master stroke. You could argue that they copied the Costco model with a yearly membership fee, but added a wealth of value in addition to two-day shipping.

The closest thing that a retailer or distributor can offer would be some kind of a subscription service. The secret would be identifying an essential item that customers would want delivered automatically at certain intervals. It would be important to consider products that are the right combination of being regularly used and where brand loyalty can be built with the customer.

2. Lightning fast fulfillment

In the past few years, the availability of warehouse execution systems (WES) set the bar for immediate order fulfilment. These systems fulfil an order in 20 minutes to an hour after an order has dropped into the distribution center. Amazon’s benchmark is 20 minutes. It’s fulfilment systems are so optimized that it can regularly meet that target.  Further, Amazon’s Prime Now service delivers products to some areas in as little as two hours.

Originally, typical WMS used a “waving process,” which batched orders optimal allocation, picking and fulfilment. Today’s waveless order fulfilment down loads each order as it comes in to optimize processing. Further, today’s WMS optimize visibility into the warehouse. Technology adoption is the road that gives distributors and retailers a similar edge compared to Amazon.

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