Amazon has made its freight, warehousing, and delivery infrastructure available to companies beyond its own retail operations by launching a service called Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS).
The offering targets retail, wholesale, and commercial businesses that need to move goods, ranging from raw materials to finished products, using Amazon's existing logistics network.
Eligible sectors include healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and retail.
The company said ASCS draws on a programme it has operated for the past three years, through which thousands of Amazon sellers have moved millions of packages across third-party facilities, warehouses, and external sales channels.
ASCS vice president Peter Larsen said: “Supply chain wasn’t just a function at Amazon – it was core to providing an exceptional shopping experience. Our differentiator. The reason we could offer fast, dependable delivery that nobody else could.
“And with the launch of ASCS, we are confident we can give any other business access to the same cost efficiency, reliability, and speed that we have built for Amazon customers.”
Several large companies are among its early adopters.
Procter & Gamble is using the freight service to transport raw materials to its manufacturing sites and move finished goods through its distribution network.
3M is shipping products from its factories to distribution centres internationally via the same service.
Lands' End is drawing on Amazon's network to fulfil orders across multiple sales channels from a unified inventory pool while American Eagle Outfitters is using Amazon's parcel delivery capability to dispatch online orders from its American Eagle and Aerie brands directly to US customers.
ASCS is structured around three core offerings.
The freight component spans ocean, air, ground, and rail transport, supported by more than 80,000 trailers, 24,000 intermodal containers, and over 100 aircraft.
It also covers time-sensitive shipments, customs clearance, and end-to-end shipment visibility.
The distribution and fulfilment arm allows businesses to import, store, and position inventory, then fulfil orders across multiple channels, including e-commerce marketplaces, social media platforms, physical retail locations and websites, from a single network.
