Recent global events have taught us that we have many things that easily can be taken for granted. One of those things no longer taken for granted are next day free shipping for Amazon Prime members.
With the quarantine measures affecting the entire world, we have begun to experience slowdowns in channels that we ordinarily expect to be instant.
Amazon, in particular, has had to make some big decisions as to how they fulfill orders for their consumers.
Amazon Under Tidal Wave of Demand
To some people, Amazon’s services are practically as essential as an electrical company.
Many consumers rely heavily on Amazon for their household staple items, cleaning supplies, even medical equipment to take care of themselves and their loved ones. With CV-19’s effects reaching far and wide, more people than ever are afraid to leave their homes for these essential items.
Consequently, Amazon is under a tidal wave of demand from customers avoiding leaving their home and placing orders instead. In fact, Amazon has already announced that they are three weeks behind on deliveries due to the crush of new business they have received.
Amazon Prioritizes Essential Items
As a result, Amazon now carries the heavy responsibility of deciding what gets fulfilled first.
Due to the serious health nature of the CV-19 crisis, Amazon is prioritizing shipments of what they are calling “essential items.”
Naturally, this means that some items are being categorized as “non-essential”, and therefore are de-prioritized for slower fulfillment. Among this category is book shipments to consumers.
Ingram Wholesale to the Rescue
Amazon’s essential items-first policy has already proven devastating to some consumer goods companies. However, the demand for book shipments has surged to exceed even the holiday demand that Amazon ordinarily experiences.
Amazon, never one to disappoint its consumers, has contracted Ingram Wholesale to assist in the delivery of consumer-direct fulfillment (CDF) of books.
With more people confined to their homes, away from offices, and unable to visit any outside recreational facilities, the demand to read books has risen.
Ingram, a partner of Made for Success Publishing, is now working around the clock to make sure that Made for Success book inventory is where it needs to be to meet Amazon CDF demand.
Only Slight Downtime Expected
As Ingram scrambles to quickly absorb Amazon’s order and logistic systems, there are expected to be some short-term delays.
However, Amazon’s book fulfillment logistics will sort out quickly. Ingram is the largest and most experienced authority in the book publishing industry. Amazon has made a great choice in selecting them for such a partnership.
Opportunities Through Difficult Times
This logistical transition is already underway and will be made through the end of April.
Despite the time-sensitive situation, Ingram Book Company is well-equipped to handle the increased fulfillment demand from Amazon. The end result will be a much smoother experience for authors who are eager to get their books in the hands of readers.
We understand that this is a challenging time, but we also want to remind our authors that every challenge also presents an opportunity.
There are some promising signals within this situation to consider:
- Demand for book shipments is exceeding peak holiday shipping demands
- Amazon is hiring 100,000 new warehouse employees to manage the demand
- Kindle sales of eBooks have been significantly increasing week over week
- Digital audiobook sales are spiking
Opportunities to provide faster shipping of books direct-to-consumer are now presenting a short-term opportunity to authors who possess eCommerce capabilities.
While this is a serious public health crisis, we are fortunate to have wonderful digital tools at our disposal to keep us connected.
A Final Word of Encouragement from Made for Success Publishing
We want to encourage all Made for Success authors that they will be in the best position possible for their book sales momentum to continue moving along.
Our proactivity and relationships within the industry will help our authors see success even through these challenging times.
We are your team, and we are here to set you up for success, no matter what.
We will keep our authors updated as more develops, and are always here to help answer any pressing questions on your mind. Please feel free to reach out directly.
Bryan Heathman is the CEO of Made for Success Publishing and the author of #1 Best Seller: Book Marketing Reinvented, a book for authors with his best-selling book launch formula. Bryan’s Fortune 500 experience includes Microsoft, Eastman Kodak and Xerox.