Inventory Segmentation Of The Amazon Warehousing

The two supply chains of Walmart and Amazon are different from each other and are efficient at their own perspectives. Both the supply chains are highly efficient in reaching out the customers in different ways. Walmart’s supply chain is completely based on store based retailing whereas Amazon’s supply chain is based on online retailing. The various methods followed by Walmart in its supply chain are vendor management inventory, cross-docking and central warehousing. Amazon acts as a retailer, as a third party and as an agent in supply chain management while selling various products through online.

When a consumer purchases an item, via the internet or in store, they are not only placing an order for the item, but providing feedback into consumer trends, thus feeding the demand chain. The retailer then places an order with the distributor, who receives and processes the order. Most systems have their retailers set up with automatic credit verification and payment is processed. Once the payment has been processed the order is then packaged and shipped out to the retailer. It is shipped via truck or train to the retailers, where they take the items and

The basic Amazon sales channel is the web store front- end which serves as their core business. Customers go to the Amazon.com website, browse products, and place orders. Amazon is responsible for all front-end customer relationships and back-end logistics in this model. Once an order is placed, Amazon decides which internal distribution center or drop shipper should be responsible for shipping the order to the customers. After that, Amazon will responsible for coordinating the fulfillment of the order. When products are sourced from its internal distribution centers, then Amazon start to picks, packs, and ships the order. When products are sourced from a drop shipper, such like a book distributor, the distributor packages the products by using the Amazon box delivers it to the customer (Maltz et al., 2004). This model requires Amazon to maintain or purchase inventory for immediate selling. In this model, Amazon owns the customer relationship, provides the technology, owns or purchases the inventory, and executes the logistics as well.

To truly enjoy the understanding of such a large distribution channel I believe we need to start with the beginning of the process which is the suppliers. When it comes to purchasing power, no one is stronger than Walmart. With this purchasing power they are able to shape their suppliers the way they feel necessary. Walmart suppliers are required to use their just in time automation which ensures Walmart racks are always supplied but avoiding inventory. In the suppliers eyes, Walmart is a merchant that

This set of data belongs to the online retailer industry. The most significant categories that helped with our decision was the low inventory for a retail business and the relatively high inventory turnover. The reasoning behind the high inventory turnover was because the goods were allowed to sit in storage until sold because of the online aspect of the business. We were also able

Sales order processing 3. Picking and packing the goods 4. Shipping Process Definition and Functions To create information flows supporting: Repetitive work routines of the sales order department, the credit department, and the shipping department -Decision needs of those who manage various sales and marketing functions Horizontal Perspective Management Questions Using Data Mining to Support Marketing Data warehousing Data mining Global E-business E-business systems are divided into two categories: Buy Side -Systems use the Internet to automate and manage corporate vendors and purchases E.g. Electronic data interchange (EDI), Supply chain management (SCM) Sell Side -Systems are designed to allow a company to market, sell, deliver, and service goods and services to customers throughout the world via the Internet CRM Systems Cultivate customer relationships by prospecting, acquiring, servicing, and retaining customers Customer self-service systems Context Diagram Diagram 1: Validate Sales Order 1.1 - Verify inventory availability Diagram 1: Validate Sales Order 1.2 - Check credit Diagram 1: Validate Sales Order 1.3 - Complete sales order Diagram 1: Validate Sales Order External Data Flow of Process 1.3: A picking ticket authorizes the warehouse to “pick” the goods from the shelf and send them to shipping -A customer acknowledgment notifies the customer of the order’s acceptance and the expected shipment date -A sales order notification is sent to the billing

With a fast changing supply chain in the 21st century, companies need an effective delivery system, which attract new customers daily, and keep the current customers happy with their current service. Amazon is a very popular ecommerce company that delivers thousands of products daily. In the past few years, they have been trying to develop drone technology that could account for a large portion of their deliveries which would also provide substantial cost savings. I will discuss all of the benefits along with the drone technology system that Amazon hopes to put in place in the near future.

Amazon.com, founded in the early 90’s, is an internet computing superstore where people have the opportunity to purchase a wide variety of products at the lowest competing price. Amazon is the world 's largest provider of cloud infrastructure services. The site is widely known for its wide selection of books, although the site has expanded to sell electronics, music, furniture, and apparel.

Amazon.com is beginning to aggregate other e-commerce that are linked via strategic placement and investments. The vision is to make it so customers don’t have to go elsewhere to shop very often especially online (Scally, 2000). The reputation it has is so strong that any association with Amazon.com helps create an impression of validity and success for anyone that chooses to partner with them. Amazon has one of the most-sophisticated supply-chain systems in the world, and it was all built from scratch. Homemade applications handle nearly every aspect of its supply chain: warehouse management, transportation management, inbound and outbound shipping, demand forecasts, inventory planning, and more. In the last four years, Amazon has worked to minimize the need for human intervention in its supply-chain processes, such as manually inputting sales forecasts into an inventory-management system (Bacheldor, 2004). Today, Amazon 's supply-chain apps communicate in real time, a rarity when most companies have to integrate

Amazon continues to grow, expand, and improve the goods and services the company provides through strategic mergers and acquisitions. In recent years Amazon has focused on acquiring a variety of companies that bring with them technologies from fields such as: robotics, education, voice recognition, and e-reader displays. One of Amazon’s most significant recent acquisitions came in March 2012 when Amazon purchased Kiva Systems, a Massachusetts based robotics company. The deal worth $775 million dollars was made in hopes that Amazon will be able to improve profit margins though the use of the robotic packing system produced by Kiva System’s. The robotics created by Kiva allows companies to manage inventory and streamline the order

This case study analysis is based on the 2009 case study from Stanford Graduate School of Business titled Zappos.com: Developing a supply chain to deliver WOW! It begins with the general overview of the background, philosophies and current problems faced by Zappos. This is followed by a hierarchal ranking of the four major presenting problems for the company, which are: maintaining the “wow” image without overspending, inventory management/distribution problems, transportation efficiency problems and customer behavior problems.

Wal-Mart's resourcefulness is widely shown in their in-bound logistics. Wal-Mart's satellite network is the largest private satellite communication system in the United States, this along with its strategic locations for their distribution centers have given them another competitive edge. Unlike other competitors who house less than half of their inventory in distribution centers, Wal-Mart houses over 80 percent in their distribution center; this purpose being more sales space for the stores and 100 percent in-stock position. To cut

New products that Amazon has recently taken advantage of are P&G warehouses (Boardroom Insiders). Within the P&G warehouses, Amazon will cut delivery time and costs by using products like shampoo and toilet paper to compete more effectively. Amazon is also in conversation with other big time industries such as Seventh Generation, Kimberly Clark, and Georgia Pacific. Another new service Amazon will be adding to their company deals with the use of warehouse robots fro its Kiva Systems. They predicted 10,000 robots to be used within the various warehouses around the world by 2014. The robots will act as a delivery system, distributing products to employees within the warehouse.

One of Amazon’s advantages over Wal-Mart is that it does not have to supply over 4,500 stores, including 600 Sam’s. Wal-Mart’s distribution centers are made for supplying its array of sores, which is an issue for Wal-Mart because Amazon’s supply chain is tailored to its e-commerce platform. According to Bonney (2012), Amazon has “69 online distribution centers in the U.S. and abroad.” This platform allows it to sell its products from the comforts of its customer’s home, office, or any

To compete in the highly competitive online marketplace, Amazon.com must ensure that its inventory system is responsive to customer needs. Because Amazon caters solely to online consumers, it is very easy for shoppers to find alternative sources on the web, if Amazon is out-of-stock. "When items first arrive, they are immediately scanned and sorted"¦company policy dictates that a barcode scanner logs and scans an incoming item within the first 12 hours of its arrival" to ensure that if a customer wishes to purchase the item he or she will see the item is available (Master 2012) "Then, items go into one of 50 receiving areas to be sorted and stored. In some instances, the consumer good is such a hot seller that it will not even be shelved. Rather, the item ends up in 'mass land,' an area filled with pallets of goods ready to go out" such as the most recent additions to the Harry Potter or Fifty Shades of Grey saga (Master 2012).