The Amazon Effect
With Amazon being one of the biggest players in the warehouse, logistics and supply chain industries, how has it changed our shopping habits and what have they put in place to make this happen? How can other companies keep up with this power house and what impact does that have on job roles in this industry?
It was projected that Amazon would have nearly half of all online sales in the USA in 2019, growing more than 20% that year making $282.52 billion.
With Amazon taking up the majority of the online market place and setting up its own logistics and supply chain methods, it is no wonder that people are shopping more and more online. With demand this high, customers are expecting extremely quick shipping and same day delivery, which is one of the ways Amazon is making sure they stay at the top of the online market. To create this demand and efficiency, Amazon has had to put in place new ways of conducting its business. They have had to innovate and change how they tackle their warehouses. A traditional warehouse would contain workers having to manually process orders, stock and load items. Whereas at Amazon, they have created a system which uses new technologies to make the process even faster. They have algorithms and code to track item locations around the warehouse so they know exactly where every item is at any one time. Resulting in a work force that can spend more time packaging and getting orders out, rather than taking time to find and search for items. Amazon have also introduced robots as a main part of their work force to perform the most basic and repetitive tasks, helping speed up processes.
This has meant that job roles have changed in the company for the human workforce. Workers now have the more complex tasks to undertake which has meant the workforce needs the skills to fit with the advances in technologies. There are still many tasks that can only be done by humans, so there will always be the need to have that quality in the warehouse industry. A human workforce will be needed in some shape or form, even as new technologies come in to help. It will be key to help those who want to work in these industries to understand and provide them with the skills needed to excel in this environment. Other companies have already started to implement similar changes, so we have to be ready to change with it, otherwise customers will not want to shop at these companies as they won’t be able to match the services provided by companies like Amazon. All companies in this industry will have to match the skills of this new workforce and build a strong foundation from the bottom up.
Its important for any person looking to go into the Warehouse, Logistics and Supply Chain industry to know about these changes and how it may affect job roles in the future. With the right training and skills, the workforce will aid the process and will be essential to keep up with the growing online demand. At Free2Learn, we have a great Warehouse, Logistics and Supply chain course that will ensure that you will be the perfect match for this changing and growing industry. Go to: https://free2learn.org.uk/retail-and-warehousing-course/ to find out more.
Sources:
- www.a2bf.com/the-amazon-effect-logistics/
- Buisnesstimes.com
- drivepersonnel.co.uk
- wonolo.com
- The Telegraph
- FreightWaves – Off The Supply Chain Episode 12: The Amazon Effect
