Following a network update, Amazon claims to be delivering greater volumes in a day or less.

For years, Amazon has been working towards making same-day and next-day delivery the norm for Prime members.

The business said on Monday that it had accomplished a crucial step in its efforts. According to Amazon, 1.8 billion pieces have been shipped to U.S. Prime members so far this year, which is about four times as much as at this stage in 2019.

Amazon has spent the last four years investing money and resources into redesigning its distribution centre and delivery system in an effort to reduce shipping times from two days to one day or less. Due to labour market and supply chain issues during the Covid pandemic, such efforts encountered a setback, but as a consequence of additional warehouses being online and other operational enhancements made by the firm, regular delivery speeds have essentially recovered.

Amazon claims that during the past quarter, its "fastest Prime speeds ever" were attained.

According to Udit Madan, Amazon's vice president of transportation, one of the company's largest adjustments over the last year has been a move away from a nationwide "hub and spoke" fulfilment network, in which parcels may pass through many facilities throughout the nation. The business switched to a strategy where the nation is split into eight smaller zones, each having local facilities that provide a selection of frequently ordered commodities.

Fast delivery is famously costly, logistically difficult, and businesses frequently lose money on deliveries. But according to Madan, Amazon's modification reduced costs and accelerated delivery times.

The "cost to serve" for Amazon has decreased as a result of fewer kilometres driven and handoffs needed. According to Amazon, it has reduced the distance that goods travel from warehouses to customers by 15%.

The company's machine learning technology has also advanced, enabling it to more efficiently arrange where and how much merchandise is stored in warehouses, speeding up delivery times. According to Amazon, more than half of Prime orders are delivered the same day or the following day across the top 60 U.S. metro regions.

Customers are buying more things from Amazon than they may typically buy from their neighbourhood corner stores or big-box shops like Best Buy due to faster delivery.

More "same-day sites," or smaller facilities situated closer to major metro regions where the corporation fulfils, sorts, and delivers orders from a single location, are being introduced by Amazon. It has historically run separate fulfilment centres, sort centres, and delivery stations for each of these functions.

Over the following two years, according to Madan, Amazon wants to double the number of same-day locations in its network.

(Sources: cnbc.com)