Amazon Opens Supply Chain Tools to All Businesses

Amazon is expanding its supply chain offering beyond its own retail/merchant operations.

Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS) opens the company’s freight, distribution, fulfillment and parcel shipping tools to businesses of all types and sizes, according to a Monday (May 4) press release.

Peter Larsen, vice president of ASCS, likened the service to the role Amazon Web Services plays in cloud computing.

“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.” Larsen said in the release.

“And with the launch of ASCS, we’re confident we can give any other business access to the same cost efficiency, reliability, and speed that we’ve built for Amazon customers.”

Central offerings of the new services include parcel shipping, distribution and fulfillment and freight transportation across air, ground, sea and rail. Among the companies taking advantage of the new service are 3M, Procter & Gamble, American Eagle Outfitters and Lands’ End.

“Amazon is one of our key ecommerce partners, and we’re excited to leverage Amazon Supply Chain Services to position inventory closer to customers so we can reach them even faster,” said Andrew McLean, Lands’ End chief executive.

“This consistency is central to our solutions-based approach, enabling us to serve customers with confidence and agility, especially during peak seasons.”

The news comes less than a week after Amazon said it had expanded its Amazon Connect service into four specialized agentic artificial intelligence (AI) solutions.

The new tools are aimed at logistics workers, human resources, customer service departments, along with a previously announced healthcare offering, the tech giant said.

In related news, PYMNTS wrote recently about the fact that many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) had stopped trying to compete with Amazon on delivery speed.

“The fact facing Main Street business owners is that, beyond a certain point, incremental gains in speed can require disproportionate increases in cost and operational complexity,” that report said.

For SMBs, this poses a crucial strategic question: Should they keep trying to meet the speed benchmark set by industry leaders, or redefine the terms of competition? The answer could lie in recognizing that not all products, customers, or contexts need the same level of immediacy.

Dinesh Gauri, a professor of marketing at the University at Buffalo School of Management, told PYMNTS that delivery speed isn’t everything. Although quick fulfillment is important, Amazon and Walmart are “killing their margins” by focusing on it too much.

Shoppers, he added, are also interested in competitive pricing and accurate inventory information (which isn’t always easy to find, as shown by PYMNTS Intelligence research).