amazon global fullfilment strategyAmazon.com Supply Chain
This area of the paper focuses on Amazon.com's supply chain and how it supports their business in the internet retailing environment. First, we have discussed Amazon.com's different operating models and explained the different supply chains that support those business models.
After the business and supply chain models are defined we have discussed Amazon.com's supply chain network, inventory segmentation strategies, order sourcing decisions, overall replenishment and fulfillment process flows, intra-warehouse process flows, and transportation policies. This report analyzes the overall Amazon.com supply chain for United States distribution with a specific emphasis on the Media product segment.
Amazon.com US Retail Product Segment
Books, CDs, and DVDs and magazine subscriptions comprise the media product line at Amazon.com (Amazon.com 2002 Annual Report). Amazon.com began as an online bookseller and its first product line expansions were music and movies. As a result, the Media segment comprises a large percentage of Amazon.com overall revenues. In 2004, Media accounts for 74% of all revenues.
Within the US, the Media segment accounts for 67% of all revenues. In dollar terms, the Media segment in the US generated $2.6 billion in revenue in 2004, compared 115 to $3.8 billion generated across all segments in the US (Amazon.com 2004 10-K Report). The pie chart below shows the breakout of revenue percentages by product and service segment. Fig

Amazon.com does not provide margin numbers by product segment, so the Media contribution to profit is unknown. JP Morgan estimates that Amazon.com gets 25% gross margins for books and media and 15% for electronics ("US Equity Research: Amazon.com", 2005). Additionally, data regarding important financial metrics such as inventory turnover, free cash flow, and