Changing the Game: Amazon
Amazon has a gift when it comes for shaking up expectations. Same day delivery or even one to two hour deliveries for groceries in select cities is giving trucking companies a run for their money, quite literally in some cases. As the expectations for consumers shift towards instant delivery and omni channel shopping, trucking companies that lose sight of what’s really going on are risking being knocked out the game by e-commerce companies.
Last year alone, e-commerce sales reached $394.9 billion, a 15% growth from 2015.
Last year alone, e-commerce sales reached $394.9 billion, a 15% growth from 2015. The 2016 e-commerce sales volume accounted for 8.1% of all U.S. retail sales and is continuing to grow. As for Amazon, the e-commerce giant underwent a huge growth spurt, up to 27% in sales volume, netting a cool $2.4 billion in profit, well above the 2015 figure of $594 million.
Amazon is outpacing most trucking companies and completely reshaping the market landscape in their image.
This is, in part, due to the fact that Amazon carries just about any product a consumer could ever want, which makes for convenient one stop shopping. With their growing logistics and delivery capabilities, Amazon is outpacing most trucking companies and completely reshaping the market landscape in their image.
Hot on the Heels
Amazon and Wal-Mart are usually the frontline runners when it comes to e-commerce sales and headlines, but they aren’t the only ones in the game. Many brick and mortar stores are starting to tap into the potential of e-commerce and omni-channel sales in order to stay viable. Best Buy, for example, made some considerable investments to their online sales, increased their e-commerce volume by 17.5% which then boosted their online sales by 21% according to the Motley Fool. Other companies such as Macy’s and Home Depot are also starting to boost their e-commerce capabilities, offering their customers new ways to shop and more convenient ways to pick up their goods.
Many brick and mortar stores are starting to tap into the potential of e-commerce and omni-channel sales.
Trucking in Trouble
If a disruptive change is a good thing for an industry, e-commerce is presenting a destructive change for the trucking industry. Consider Amazon’s unparalleled purchasing power, while the increase in e-commerce sales might seem like a good thing for the trucking, Amazon is able to pursue a low-cost model for trucking.
E-commerce is presenting a destructive change for the trucking industry
“First, core carriers and dedicated carriers appear to be used by Amazon only in cases where brokers cannot find cheaper capacity in the open market,” said John Larkin, managing director and head of transportation capital markets research for Stifel Capital Markets. “This is a new, less attractive version of what core carriers and dedicated fleets traditionally represented [and] we have heard that several carriers have backed away from this customer for this reason.”
“[The truckload market] is still tough; excess capacity continues to exist, prolonging a very competitive pricing environment,” Larkin adds. “Trucking companies are still having trouble finding drivers and, to boot, poor weather is troubling the first quarter,” according to a recent post from FleetOwner.
The logistics industry as a whole is undergoing a considerable culture shock.
With the rapid growth and development of e-commerce sales, the logistics industry as a whole is undergoing a considerable culture shock. The tried and true method is rapidly vanishing as consumers demand faster deliveries from more locations. Distribution and warehousing centers are being to slow down and many are closing their doors for good. Unless the trucking industry is able to find a way to cope with these new changes, in addition to the hurdles they already have to clear, there could be a cataclysmic upheaval in the way we look at logistics.
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