Amazon launches its own plane line. Sort of Not content with its current world domination plans, Amazon is now seeking to control the skies and has unveiled its own airline. Well, kind of. According to a report by recode, Amazon is shipping enough packages across the US that it is starting to need its own planes. Amazon yesterday unveiled its first “Prime Air” branded …
I'm gettin grumpy and increasingly cynical, the older I get.
"Amazon... [m]uch to the horror of supermarkets, it also launched its fresh grocery service in the UK."
That kind of pleased me. Supermarkets were in the place where Amazon is, with the sucking life out of smaller players. However, it is all going to end badly as we continue this. Namely with Amazon buying up leases in town centres to then make them into mini Amazon stores. Gibson was eerily prescient, again, with his portrayal of the 'Lucky Dragon' chain of stores.
'Elsewhere, other tech giants are seeking to diversify into new markets. The most notable example being Apple.'
At some point, in the desire to massively expand its business, I would lay odds on that old 'net staple, advertising, being something it ends up starting.
What a time to be alive.
Edit: With Ol'Peculier's statement above, buying F1 would give them a foothold in advertising also, but slightly by the back door, thus saving some face.
E-business market = A central and huge, yet inexpensive (per square foot) warehouse which holds a huge amount of stock of a huge number of different products which doesn't have to worry about looking pretty because no customer ever sees the backend which takes payments online and then posts products out.
Supermarkets moving into e-business already have a big warehouse like thing (ie; the supermarket) and their only additional cost for going online is to hire somebody to walk around the shop, pull a product from the shelf and then post it out. This makes sense as an extension of what they are doing.
Bricks and mortar shop = a chain of little shops which are insanely expensive (per square foot) and hold very few products, and very little stock. It also gets taxed to death by the local authority who then make it as difficult as possible for the little shop to make a profit by charging customers more for car parking than the average transaction in the shop is worth.
Amazon setting up chains of small physical shops on high streets makes very little sense.
Very little sense if you approach every thing as online, but people are not virtual. There is a very real possibility that amazon could make inroads into your life more and at the same time carrying favour with government, by taking up leases then providing a 'unified high Street experience™' and allowing, even encouraging, businesses to sell locally direct. Like a real life shopify with even logistics sorted, and stock management. This would bring employment and business to a much needed sector of the UK townships at least.
The death of the high street is a very real problem. Hiding this in the behemoth that is amazon would do politicians a massive favour.
Someone said on here that Amazon are a process xompany...not quite accurate. They are the logistics kings. Logistics is what feeds this consumer frenzy we exist in.
Seeing amazon as just an online retailer is blinkered. They're Google's closest competitor for the near future dominance in corporate power.. Apple are the high maintenance other half that is starting to worry about relevance, and has all this cash and not much of a real clue what to do with it.
Google may control information and online advertising, but amazon control more and more of how we buy. If amazon doesn't start moving into the real world more, then it will be open for the other big players...whuch doesn't fit their current models. But it can easily fit amazon's. And amazon are notorious for reinvesting and growing. Google are still trying to invent the next big thing™ and control of, like online advertising. (Good luck with that). Self driving cars is a way to break into the real world with transportation, trying to get some of what amazon have. Microsoft are increasingly making a pigs ear out of everything and see themselves being a niche software maker...which ironically made them one of the biggest companies at one point. You can see them flailing around trying to take some of Google and apple business and screwing that up.
Amazon. Jeff bezos is the quintessential evil genius. He controls the distribution. He is starting to control the data centres. The next, and to be brutally honest, most sensible thing to do, is to start moving in on the areas that he has the ease, power and money to do...and the others don't have a sensible way in...real stores.
Logistics win wars, destroy and build nations. Information is nothing without it. Just government promises.
I now have thumb cramp and can't be arsed to edit this post for clarity
Just asking for someone to rent them.
Given Amazons arm twisting ability like,
hey Mr Councillor, we have your systems on AWS. wanna keep them running? Well give us a 100yr buisness rates holiday. Yes? Job done.
We'd better watch out. There are vast swathes of the US where the only stores left are Wallyworld. Now they are closing a lot of them leaving people up to 100miles away from anything more that a Gas Station Convienece store
We don't want Amazon to be the only store in town. They could do it.
"Amazon yesterday unveiled its first “Prime Air” branded plane...
Amazon is already increasing its vertical integration at pace."
I'm disappointed this wasn't about delivery via rockets.
@ Peter2
"Amazon setting up chains of small physical shops on high streets makes very little sense."
You should probably let Amazon know that, since they've already started.
Amazon is a PROCESS company, not a RETAILER. It applies its processes to anything that it can be applied to... whether it's books, computer parts, groceries, data... :-)
That Amazon is now looking at further optimising its business model and shipping processes by having Atlas Air run its air ops makes sense. If it has a massive load of stuff to go between two or three hubs, why go to a central hub that adds hours to everything? :-)
Eddie Stobart (the road haulage company) has already done this locally by setting up Stobart Air (which runs freight between the airports of Carlisle and Southend). That they've also managed to get a good deal on an airline (Aer Arann) that ships SLF (self-loading freight) is just part and parcel of the fun. :-)
As for setting up shops on high streets, well, if Amazon finds they get good deals on rent on empty units, and they can provide a reasonable service (like drop-shipping within 12 hours like Next/Debenham's/Argos do), and it works for their process model, then do not be surprised if they were to do this on a limited scale to try it first...
Amazon already has "Prime Now", which is same day delivery. I ordered a PS4 controller using the service, which arrived in a takeaway bag around 4 hours after I ordered it. You're obviously limited to ordering whatever they have in stock in the warehouse closest to you, but it's still pretty cool.
I doubt they'll open retail stores. But more warehouses of various sizes to give greater coverage, definitely.
For some reason I'm put in mind of Emerson, Lake, and Palmer's lorries. On the one hand it comes across as Peak Amazon - the kind of thing people will use in presentations twenty years from now when they want to illustrate hubris - but on the other hand Amazon has never struck me as a stupid company. I can imagine them building up the freight side of things in the same way they built up their cloud hosting services.
It'd be ace if they could cut a deal with Boeing to keep the 747-8 line open. It's not going to happen, but it would still be ace.
Or imagine a floating aircraft carrier along the lines of Captain Scarlet's Cloudbase, but instead of sending attractive women in modified F-104 Starfighters to shoot down Mysteron UFOs, it sends out drones to deliver £20.56 worth of cheap batteries, USB-powered desk lamps, lint-free cloths and (checks Amazon order history) a 16gb microSD card. What a world we live in!
but instead of sending attractive women in modified F-104 Starfighters to shoot down Mysteron UFOs, it sends out drones to deliver £20.56 worth of cheap batteries, USB-powered desk lamps, lint-free cloths
Please, I'd like to propose a compromise, can I have attractive women in modified F-104 Starfighters to deliver £20.56 worth of cheap batteries, USB-powered desk lamps and lint-free cloths?
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