Amazon opens Supply Chain Services to companies that do not sell on Amazon

Amazon opened Amazon Supply Chain Services to companies that do not sell through its store. At launch, businesses could use a centralized console to discover, select and sign up for inventory handling, distribution, fulfillment and parcel shipping for orders placed on another website or sales channel. Amazon advertises predictable two-to-five-day parcel delivery and seven-day service.

That matters because the network is one of Amazon’s most expensive and difficult-to-copy assets. Empty space in a warehouse or delivery route still costs money; outside volume can improve utilization while giving merchants another alternative to traditional logistics providers. It also extends Amazon’s reach without requiring every transaction to pass through its marketplace.

The tradeoff is dependence. A merchant has to compare price, service levels, data access, packaging control and the ease of leaving later. For Amazon, the test is whether it can make the network a durable business in its own right without weakening the retail service it was built to support.