Announcement reposted from Amazon:
As announced in About Amazon, Amazon delivered its largest selection of products to US Prime members at the fastest speeds ever last quarter. This year, we have delivered more than 1.8 billion units to US Prime members on the same or next day after they are ordered—nearly four times what we delivered at those speeds by this point in 2019.
To get your products to buyers more quickly, we continue to invest billions of dollars in faster delivery speeds with the following initiatives:
- “Regionalizing” our US operations network. Previously, we fulfilled orders from any of our operational sites across the country. Now, we keep a broad selection of inventory across eight interconnected regions, making it faster to get products to buyers.
- Placing products closer to customers. We use machine-learning algorithms to better predict which items customers in various regions will want and when, to make sure inventory is available in the right places at the right time.
- Growing our Same-Day Delivery network. At our Same-Day Delivery facilities, situated close to large metro areas, we fulfill, sort, and deliver from one site—allowing us to get products ready for delivery faster. Same-Day Delivery is currently available to customers on millions of items in more than 90 US metro areas, and we plan to double the number of Same-Day Delivery facilities in the coming years.
Products from independent sellers like you represent more than 60% of unit sales in our store. While we continue to invest in getting your products to Prime customers faster, you also play a big role in how fast we’re able to deliver your products to help you grow your sales—specifically how much inventory you send in and where you send it.
To get your products placed closer to Prime customers more often so we can deliver your products faster, we recommend three key actions:
- Maintain healthy inventory levels. As we’ve invested in expanding our fulfillment center network to increase same-day and next-day delivery, we encourage you to maintain healthy inventory levels to take advantage of faster speeds across our fulfillment network. On average, sellers who maintained healthy inventory levels saw a 15% increase in unit sales over a four-week period. To view all eligible ASINs and recommended restock quantities, download the Restock Inventory report or go to Restock Inventory.
- Ship to multiple receive centers. Select the recommended multi-destination shipping option in the Send to Amazon workflow to transfer your inventory to Amazon fulfillment centers faster. We use receive centers to get your products in more quickly, and closer to customers. Each receive center connects with certain regional fulfillment centers, so we recommend sending to multiple receive centers for faster fulfillment.
- Enroll in Amazon Warehousing and Distribution with automatic replenishment. To simplify inventory storage and management, we take care of distribution for you by automatically replenishing your inventory and spreading it across Prime-ready fulfillment centers. This program helps maintain high in-stock rates locally so you can get the fastest-ever delivery speeds and drive additional growth for your business. The program also seamlessly integrates with our logistics offerings such as Amazon Global Logistics to help you send products to fulfillment centers straight from your manufacturing location.