Amazon cuts delivery times 15%
- Amazon has been rolling out artificial intelligence tools that place inventory closer to shoppers and map drop-offs more precisely to speed deliveries. - Amazon said its latest forecasting model predicts what shoppers want, where they want it, and when, while 9 billion items arrived same-day or next-day in 2024. - The push extends Amazon’s regionalized network and same-day sites, which the company says lifted speed and local availability. (aboutamazon.com)
Amazon is using artificial intelligence to move more products closer to shoppers before they click buy, cutting the distance each package travels. (aboutamazon.com) (cnbc.com) The company said on June 11, 2025 that its latest demand-forecasting model predicts what product customers want, where they want it, and when. Amazon said that model is now powering its supply chain. (aboutamazon.com) Steve Armato, Amazon’s vice president of transportation technology and services, told CNBC the company began building transformer-based forecasting and supply-chain models in 2020. He said the goal is to put “just one more product in the right spot” so it ships a shorter distance. (cnbc.com) That inventory shift sits on top of a broader redesign of Amazon’s network. Doug Herrington, chief executive of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said Amazon divided the U.S. into smaller regions so it could rely more on in-region inventory and cut handoffs. (aboutamazon.com) Herrington said Amazon shipped nearly 600 million more items from in-region fulfillment centers in the fourth quarter of 2023 than a year earlier. He also said the company added nine dedicated Same-Day sites in 2023 and expanded service to 18 more U.S. cities. (aboutamazon.com) Amazon’s public scorecard has kept moving up. The company said it delivered more than 7 billion items the same day or next day in 2023, including more than 4 billion in the United States. (aboutamazon.com) It said that total rose to more than 9 billion same-day or next-day items globally in 2024. Amazon also said it expanded the number of Same-Day Delivery sites by more than 60% last year and now serves more than 140 metro areas. (sellercentral.amazon.com) In the top 60 U.S. metro areas, Armato told CNBC that 60% of Prime orders in March 2024 arrived the same day or next day. Amazon is using generative artificial intelligence in routing, robotics and inventory placement to push that share higher. (cnbc.com) Amazon is also using artificial intelligence after the order is placed. Its Wellspring mapping system pulls from satellite imagery, road networks, building footprints, prior deliveries and customer instructions to identify entrances, parking spots and shared mailrooms more accurately. (aboutamazon.com) For sellers, the practical effect is simple: faster delivery depends on being stocked in the right building before demand spikes. Amazon’s own seller forum post says faster delivery speeds increase purchases, and seller-forum moderators say out-of-stock periods can reduce search visibility even after inventory returns. (sellercentral.amazon.com 1) (sellercentral.amazon.com 2) The headline is not a single audited “15%” figure that Amazon has published in a primary source. The documented shift is a multi-year effort to forecast demand earlier, place inventory locally and shorten routes so more orders show up the same day or next day. (aboutamazon.com 1) (aboutamazon.com 2)
