Every product has a journey. Sometimes it begins in a family-owned factory in rural Georgia, sometimes in a bustling manufacturing hub in an international country, and other times in a design studio in downtown Austin. Wherever production starts, sellers face the same challenge: getting that product from their factory to a customer's doorstep in a fast, reliable, and cost-effective manner across global and domestic logistics, warehousing, distribution, and finally fulfillment.
More than 15 years ago, Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) was launched to provide sellers with fast, reliable fulfillment that has since become one of our most popular services for sellers. In 2023, we introduced Supply Chain by Amazon to offer sellers an end-to-end, fully automated set of supply chain services that handles their supply chain from factory to customer doorstep. This includes picking up from manufacturing locations, managing customs, providing freight and logistics, warehousing bulk inventory, and fulfillment.
We’re excited to share that we now support more than 600,000 sellers worldwide in moving over 5 billion items annually through Amazon’s network of global logistics, domestic freight, and bulk warehousing. That number is more than a milestone—it’s proof that when we provide sellers with fast and reliable services at a great value, we can positively transform their supply chain, expand their reach, and help sellers flourish.
New Global Warehousing and Distribution service
The story begins at manufacturing, and one of the first supply chain questions for global sellers is how much product to hold near manufacturing and how much to ship to the destination countries they sell in. If they bring everything into the destination countries, they may face higher storage costs and have to maintain more inventory in each country. However, if they hold too much back at manufacturing, they risk being out of stock if demand rises and they are not able to get products fast enough to the destination country.
That’s why we’re expanding our Amazon Warehousing and Distribution (AWD) capabilities globally through a new service called Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD), enabling sellers to hold products in bulk and at lower cost, near the point of manufacture, and then release the product to various destination countries when the time is right. Because Amazon manages both warehousing and global logistics, sellers in our early pilots moved products from GWD into our fulfillment network up to seven days faster, giving them a critical edge in keeping items in stock and ready for same- or next-day delivery to customers.
Expanding Amazon Global Logistics coverage
Once inventory is ready to move across borders, sellers have historically had to patch together a network of freight providers with their own timelines, limited visibility across them, and each provider managed independently. A missed connection at port or an unexpected delay could throw an entire selling season off track.
That’s why we’re continuing to launch more direct arcs that connect the largest and fastest-growing manufacturing hubs directly with the most popular destination countries where sellers sell their products. These new shipping lanes enable faster speed and greater reliability, and by the end of 2026, we expect AGL will provide shipping services that cover 96% of the inbound volume sellers send to FBA. That breadth of coverage means fewer handoffs, more predictable schedules, and a faster path to getting inventory positioned for same- and next-day Prime delivery.
AI transforms customs clearance
Small businesses tell us that customs clearance has long been one of the most challenging parts of global trade. Sellers have to figure out which of more than 10,000 classification codes apply to their products and fill out long forms that are cumbersome and repetitive. Moreover, if a small business – or their customs broker – doesn’t fill these out right the first time, an error can be costly by adding days or even weeks to their products clearing through the border.
Amazon is now using generative AI to dramatically simplify and speed up this customs experience. We help sellers by pre-populating required fields including product classification, reusing information across documents to ensure consistency, and flagging potential mistakes before they cause errors and delays. Early results show sellers are cutting their customs paperwork time by more than half—making a once complex process faster, simpler, and more reliable.
Providing an end-to-end, automated Supply Chain by Amazon
Across their supply chain, sellers have had to arrange warehousing, schedule ships, trucks, planes, and trains, and constantly monitor dozens of different services just to coordinate all of these. But now, not only does Amazon provide all of these services, sellers can also have Amazon automate the movement of products between these services. For many sellers, this has historically been the most manual, tedious and time-consuming part of the process. Now it’s as simple as a few clicks.
“Black Friday and Cyber Monday used to mean sleepless nights trying to keep up with orders. With AWD and FBA working together, we now have 13–16 weeks of inventory positioned and flowing automatically to customers, giving us peace of mind during peak.”— Dean-Paul Hart, President of Compac Industries, a second-generation family business selling baby products and kitchen gadgets, as well as skin and oral care items.
Behind the scenes, Amazon’s AI-powered forecasting, placement, and scheduling systems are powering this complicated orchestration on sellers’ behalf. By analyzing hundreds of signals—from holiday shopping patterns to customer shopping behavior—we can anticipate when and where demand is rising and move the right amount of products in advance, so they are placed close to customers when they’re needed. When sellers take advantage of Amazon’s automated replenishment, they can spend more time focusing on other areas of their business.
“With Supply Chain by Amazon, the work that once required a week of late nights is now automatic, giving me back the time and energy to design the next product.” — Brandon Fuhrmann, Founder of Cooler Kitchen, a kitchenware brand offering minimalist, joyful cooking essentials
By positioning inventory in the right place at the right time, we expand the availability of same-day and next-day delivery and as a result, last year alone, Amazon delivered more than 9 billion items to Prime customers on the same or next day. This speed has provided a powerful boost for sellers, as products available for delivery the same day, on average, see a 20% lift in sales compared with products with two-day shipping.
Expanding Amazon Multi-Channel Fulfillment to new sales channels
Amazon continues to help businesses accelerate their growth by also offering quick and reliable delivery for orders beyond Amazon’s store, including their own websites, other retailers, and social media channels through Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), which on average, drives a nearly 19% increase in sales.
With MCF, Amazon manages the operations for all of a seller’s sales channels, including picking, packing, and delivering. This means that all of the orders a seller receives can now benefit from the speed, reliability, and simplicity of Amazon’s fulfillment – with MCF fulfilling millions more orders quickly and reliably year-over-year.
Building on its proven success in enabling fulfillment for sellers on sales channels like eBay, Etsy, Temu, and TikTok Shop, Amazon MCF is now expanding to support sellers using Walmart, Shopify, and SHEIN. This expansion helps brands reach customers wherever they shop—while relying on Amazon’s fulfillment network to deliver for them.
When sellers use FBA and MCF, they have a single pool of inventory across their sales channels, driving, on average, 19% fewer out-of-stock rates and improved inventory turnover by an average of 12%. That means less wasted inventory sitting in warehouses, more products in customers’ hands, and stronger business results for sellers.
Providing a simple, fast, and reliable set of supply chain services at a great value
For small businesses, all these new innovations are advancing what's possible, freeing up time and money for sellers to focus more on developing products and delighting customers while Amazon ensures their products move efficiently from manufacturing to customers worldwide.
Learn more about Supply Chain by Amazon and how sellers are using these services.
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