Amazon will expand GWD to Europe

Ecommerce giant Amazon has announced that it will expand its service Global Warehousing and Distribution into Europe by the end of the year. It will launch in Germany, France, Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. With it, sellers can reach customers across multiple countries from one single Amazon-operated facility.

Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD) is one of Amazon’s extra services. The company has launched it to make cross-border ecommerce easier for online merchants on the marketplace. With it, merchants can ship one manufacturing run to a GWD facility, close to their own factory. From that single shipment, they can reach customers in multiple countries, instead of splitting their inventory into separate batches.

Shipments from facilities near factory

For example, sellers who produce their stock in Shenzen, China, can store those products in bulk at the GWD facility in the same city. According to the company, the storage costs are lower than AWD and replenishment into FBA is up to five days faster than with other services.

Products are stored in one pool and sellers have one view of where it all sits

With most fulfillment services, sellers separate their inventory in batches in several countries. But with GWD, products are stored in one pool. The product will be shipped into a specific country after there is a demand for it. It will then be shipped to local FBA fulfillment centers, in order to guarantee fast delivery to customers.

Expansion into seven countries

Up until now, GWD was only connected to sellers and customers in the United States. The company has now announced that it will expand to seven more countries by the end of the year. These include Japan, Canada, Germany, Spain, Italy, France and the United Kingdom.