Amazon: Online goods provider, cable cutter and shipper?

It’s beginning to look a lot like Amazon is taking over the world. A few weeks ago, Amazon introduced Amazon Fire TV to the market in order to compete with Apple TV, Roku and other cable cutting devices. Yesterday, The Wall Street Journal published an article describing Amazon’s plan to now compete with shippers such as FedEx and UPS.

With all of Amazon’s new ventures, the company aims to offer the same service as their competitors, but with an added twist. With Amazon Fire TV, they added a speaking component to their remote, and with Amazon deliveries, they are hoping to offer same day as purchase delivery.

Amazon deliveries is being tested in San Francisco, Los Angeles and New York.

Delivering its own packages will give Amazon, stung by Christmas shipping delays, more control over the shopping experience. It can also help contain shipping expenses, which have grown as a percentage of sales each year since 2009, according to securities filings.

On Thursday, Amazon reported another quarter of skimpy profit even as sales increased 23% to $19.74 billion. Shipping costs rose 31%, and it also spent on cloud computing and new initiatives. The company reported a first-quarter profit of $108 million, compared with $82 million a year earlier.

The new delivery efforts will get Amazon closer to a holy grail of e-commerce: Delivering goods the same day they are purchased, offering shoppers one less reason to go to physical stores. With its own trucks, Amazon could offer deliveries late at night, or at more specific times.

It’s important for communications professionals to know about these potential changes to industries, especially in the case that you are involved in the shipping sector. With Amazon deliveries,  it will be interesting to see what happens in the near future.