It’s time for another eCommerce and logistics news roundup!
Today, let’s take a quick look at Amazon’s planned free one-day shipping service for Prime members, how several major couriers have joined forces to call for governments to mandate blockchain adoption for cross-border shipping and how 3PLs have reported a surge in shipping volume despite uncertainty about the global economy!
Amazon Announces Free One-Day Shipping for Prime Members
Amazon recently dropped a game changer of a news announcement when CFO Brian T. Olsavsky revealed that the eCommerce giant was moving towards free one-day Amazon Prime shipping on the company’s first-quarter earnings call.
"We're currently working on evolving our Prime free two-day shipping program to be a free one-day shipping program. We're able to do this because we've spent 20-plus years expanding our fulfillment and logistics network, but this is still a big investment and a lot of work ... ahead of us,” Olsavsky said.
The one-day shipping feature will take multiple quarters to roll out and won’t immediately be available in every market. However, when fully implemented, it will cover approximately the same 100 million-plus products now available on Amazon Prime, which currently offers two-day shipping.
Easyship’s Take: The bombshell announcement by Olsavsky will put immense pressure on Amazon’s competitors like Target and Walmart and bring products to Amazon Prime’s estimated 103 million members in the U.S. even faster. eCommerce businesses who pride themselves on quick, efficient deliveries should pay close attention to what Amazon does next regarding free one-day Prime shipping and look to leverage the new service to their advantage.
FedEx, UPS and DHL Call for Governments to Mandate International Shipping Blockchains
FedEx, UPS and DHL have all joined forces as part of the new Blockchain in Transport Alliance (BITA), a trade organization that’s called for governments to mandate blockchain adoption for global shipping.
At the Blockchain Global Revolution Conference in Toronto, FedEx CIO Rob Carter specifically pushed for government-mandate blockchain standards for the cross-border shipping industry, believing that such standards would help further digitize shipping information and make it simpler and more accessible.
“There’s an incredible amount of information moving with an international package. An incredible amount of paperwork (such as) certificates of origin, and certain commodities require specific licenses. That information moves sometimes in digital forms and sometimes paper forms. As we move toward a more digital world, blockchain is where you piece all that together,” Carter said.
Easyship’s Take: Although it’s not currently known if governments will indeed mandate blockchain technology for international shipping, the technology is steadily being adopted worldwide, promising to make logistics simpler and more efficient.
Since multiple couriers are often used to transport products overseas to different destinations, blockchain technology can help to make shipping information more transparent, simplified and seamless.
Easyship co-founder Tommaso Tamburnotti authored an article on EBN last year noting blockchain technology as “the future of logistics.”
3PLs Report Volume Surge Despite Global Slowdown
Per JOC.com, most major freight forwarders reported growth in both shipping volume and profit in the first quarter of 2019. The positive news comes despite many headwinds facing the global economy in 2018, particularly U.S.-China trade tensions, a drop in business confidence in the EU and global policy uncertainty.
Easyship’s Take: Despite headwinds, the global economy still appears poised for growth in the short-term. eCommerce merchants looking to go cross-border should still have confidence in selling internationally thanks to steady economic growth around the world.
Signing up for Easyship is a great way to take advantage of the booming cross-border eCommerce market, giving your business access to our global courier network with pre-negotiated rates and greater transparency in comparing courier shipping rates and services!