I WANT IT now!

CONSUMERS WANT THINGS FAST, HYPERLOCAL SUPPLY CHAINS DELIVER.

- DAMIEN MARTIN

Like Veruca Salt wandering through Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, today’s consumers see things they want, and they want them now. Even Veruca’s overindulgent father couldn’t snag her a golden goose, and she ended up falling down a garbage chute. She might have done better with a smartphone, because today’s ecommerce shoppers are finding more products available to them with fast delivery. Just like Veruca, they don’t care how, they just want it now. The how, though, is a fascinating study in building hyperlocal supply chains using data analytics to predict what buyers will want, making sure it’s close to them, and showing them when they can expect it through every step of the order process.

New Fulfillment Models

Outfits big and small are building hyperlocal supply chains, but when it comes to industry innovation like this, it’s always helpful to examine what titans like Amazon are doing. The ecommerce leader revamped its fulfillment model from a national to a regionalized one that divides the U.S. into eight interconnected regions in smaller geographical areas, each with its own main fulfillment center. The new system cuts way down on the amount of cross-country shipments Amazon has to make when a local fulfillment center doesn’t have a product in stock. Using its own Amazon Web Services, the company analyzes demand for certain products in particular areas, making sure those regional centers are well-stocked with items in high demand. This allows for more customer-pleasing features such as next-day or same-day delivery while cutting costs and environmental impact for Amazon.