Amazon: Ship Before You Buy

Amazon wants to start shipping products before customers even know they actually want to buy something.

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    The eCommerce giant has filed a patent for an “anticipatory shipping system” that sends items to shipping hubs that appeal to the shopping tastes of consumers in that area, the Wall Street Journal reported on Jan. 17. The idea is that by predicting what shoppers want ahead of time, Amazon can cut down on wait times and improve the consumer experience by making it faster.

    If the system goes wrong and a customer receives an incorrect order, Amazon would convert the item into a gift.
    “Delivering the package to the given customer as a promotional gift may be used to build goodwill,” the company wrote in the patent.

    To learn more about Amazon’s predictive shipping network patent, read the full story here.

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