Putting Jeff Bezos in a Super Bowl ad isn’t the only major material business decision Amazon is making in Q1…
After more than a year of anticipation as Amazon has expanded the number of its distribution centers, partnered with landlords to install designated Amazon lockers in mailrooms in millions of apartments across the US, and experimented with delivery from third-party warehouses in some test markets, the e-commerce behemoth announced today that it will launch a “Shipping with Amazon” service that will entail the shipping giant picking up packages from businesses and shipping them to consumers, according to the Wall Street Journal, which cited unnamed sources familiar with the matter (ie AMZN’s comms department).
The service will compete with ground carriers with UPS and FedEx
*AMAZON PLANS TO LAUNCH ‘SHIPPING WITH AMAZON’ IN U.S. THIS YEAR, SOURCES SAY
*NEW AMAZON SHIPPING OPTION WOULD COMPETE WITH UPS AND FEDEX, SOURCES SAY
*’SHIP WITH AMAZON’ TO START IN LOS ANGELES FIRST, THEN GO NATIONWIDE, SOURCES SAY
Amazon expects to roll out the new delivery service in Los Angeles in coming weeks, partnering with third-party merchants that sell goods via its website, according to the people. Amazon then aims to expand the service to more cities as soon as this year, some of the people say.
The first stirrings of the eventual launch first emerged last October when Amazon announced it would begin “experimenting” with a new program called “seller flex” that would allow them to take over the process of shipping from third-party warehouses. That program was tested in the Los Angeles area.
Unsurprisingly, the stocks of private shipping companies FedEx and UPS are sinking premarket on the news.
via Zero Hedge http://ift.tt/2C6TwGO Tyler Durden