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Lifestyle: Amazon uses Uber for Singapore deliveries (AMZN)

Share of Delivery Cost, by Part of Journey

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After its much-anticipated launch in Singapore last week, Amazon is seeing skyrocketing orders for its Prime Now two-hour delivery service, prompting the company to hire Uber and taxi drivers to help deliver packages, CNET reports.

Prime Now has been a hit since the launch, with the Prime Now app topping 11,000 downloads in the iOS and Google Play stores from July 27-30. However, the volume of orders quickly overwhelmed the service — Mashable reported the Prime Now app showed delivery was unavailable on any items for part of last Thursday and Friday.

Hiring drivers for deliveries could get Amazon in trouble with Singapore’s regulatory authorities, according to CNET. The city-state’s Land Transport Authority told a local newspaper that taxis and for-hire private cars are bound by local regulations to exclusively transport passengers, not goods. However, there is a loophole that allows taxis to transport goods if they are being carried by a passenger.

Amazon previously tested hiring cab drivers to deliver packages in California through the Flywheel mobile app, and Uber also launched UberRush in 2015 to make last-mile deliveries in certain cities. Ride-hailing companies could potentially reduce last-mile delivery times and costs in markets where there is an incredibly high density of drivers to make deliveries. However, they would have to catch up to parcel delivery companies that have spent years optimizing their delivery routes — a complex task for any crowdsourced delivery scheme, a report from UK parcel delivery company ParcelHero noted. Additionally, it remains to be seen how comfortable customers are with Uber or Lyft drivers delivering packages to their doorsteps instead of uniformed delivery workers.

Jonathan Camhi, research analyst for BI Intelligence, Business Insider's premium research service, has laid out the case for why retailers must transition to an omnichannel fulfillment model, and the challenges complicating that transition for most companies. This omnichannel fulfillment report also detail the benefits and difficulties involved with specific omnichannel fulfillment services like click-and-collect, ship-to-store, and ship-from-store, providing examples of retailers that have experienced success and struggles with these methods. Lastly, it walks through the steps retailers need to take to optimize omnichannel fulfillment for lower costs and faster delivery times.

Here are some of the key takeaways from the report:

  • Brick-and-mortar retailers must cut delivery times and costs to meet online shoppers’ expectations of free and fast shipping.
  • Omnichannel fulfillment services can help retailers achieve that goal while also keeping their stores relevant.
  • However, few retailers have mastered these services, which has led to increasing shipping costs eating into their profit margins.
  • In order to optimize costs and realize the full benefits of these omnichannel services, retailers must undertake costly and time-consuming transformations of their logistics, inventory, and store systems and operations.

In full, the report:

  • Details the benefits of omnichannel services like click-and-collect and ship-from-store, including lowering delivery times and costs, and driving in-store traffic and sales.
  • Provides examples of the successes and struggles various retailers have experienced with omnichannel delivery.
  • Explains why retailers are having trouble managing costs with their omnichannel fulfillment efforts, which are eating into their profits.
  • Lays out what steps retailers need to take to optimize costs for their omnichannel operations by placing inventory where it best meets customer demand.

To get the full report, subscribe to an ALL-ACCESS Membership with BI Intelligence and gain immediate access to this report AND more than 250 other expertly researched deep-dive reports, subscriptions to all of our daily newsletters, and much more. >> Learn More Now

You can also purchase and download the report from our research store.



from pulse.ng - Nigeria's entertainment & lifestyle platform online

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