Amazon has been ramping up its delivery infrastructure in 2024, having already leased over 16 million square feet of new warehouse space so far this year.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the company has spent much of the year investing in industrial properties in a bid to expand its distribution network. That includes new warehouse facilities ranging between 100,000 and one million square feet. In total, supply chain consulting firm MWPVL International estimates that Amazon is planning for at least 170 new distribution facilities in the U.S. alone, including 103 package delivery stations and 21 small fulfillment centers.
This comes amid a bid from Amazon to regionalize its delivery network. In July of 2023, the e-commerce giant detailed its plans to use machine learning to predict where customers will want specific items, and then store those products in those areas.
As of Q1 2024, Amazon says that more than 76% of its orders are shipped from fulfillment centers in each customer’s region. The company also boasted faster ever delivery times over that same period, reporting that almost 60% of Prime customers in the 60 largest U.S. metro areas had orders arrive on the same or next day.
