The title of this post may sound almost impossible but this is a rather popular strategy among retailers. Amazon will essentially mass-ship items to local distributions centers, based on demand statistics and then ship them to users as soon as they click ‘Buy.’
According to reports, it is developing a system which would allow it to deliver packages in absolutely no time by implementing the aforementioned strategy. This is how the strategy works: if iPad sales in New York top the charts every holiday season, Amazon ships out a bulk of iPad units to the NY distribution centers in advance. As soon as a user places an order, it is shipped to his doorstep within the next few hours.
This strategy can be very useful in cutting down shipping time and delivering packages timely. But don’t your hopes too up because for now, all of this comes simply from a patent that Amazon has filed. Rather decoratively titled ‘Anticipatory package shipping’, the digital implementation of this strategy is a tad bit different because Amazon will be able to dig through huge amounts of user data and shopping trends, and then implement the strategy.
The patent hints that the retailer may go even so far as to ship orders that have not been placed, hoping that they would be placed by the time the shipment arrives at the customer’s doorstep. And to minimize returns, the company says in the patent filing that it can simply offer the item as a surprise, discounted package or simply as a gift.
Amazon has an edge over other online retailers in that it can use its customers’ data to determine their buying habits. Based on this data, the company may be in a fairly good position to make some accurate shopping predictions. But can these predictions be accurate down to the level of a single individual, remains to be seen.
Courtesy: Daily Mail
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