Until the day comes when we can teleport physical products from one point to another, we will have to depend on distribution networks that include trains, planes, and automobiles (or trucks). You can download an e-book or a movie, but you just can’t download a shirt or dozen eggs.
A new partnerships with convenience stores, small retailers, and UPS stores makes it possible for Amazon to deliver parcels almost to the door securely.
Amazon depends its digital networks for sales of everything from t-shirts to cat litter and has discovered that getting products into the hands of working consumers living in apartments and condos is particularly difficult. Walmart offers products for sale online for pickup in a Walmart store; Amazon doesn’t have storefronts.
Setting up convenient lockers and drop points are an alternative for secure delivery. And while Amazon’s lockers are currently not refrigerated, it may be just a matter of time before food products will be delivered to a locker near you.