A while ago, we blogged a detailed writeup – What is the Amazon’s franchise program? How do I become a Franchisee?
Amazon has been pushing forward on the program by extending its Delivery Service. In June, Amazon announced that it was rolling out its Delivery Service Partner program to increase its package delivery and logistics service capabilities. It also aims to enable entrepreneurs to set up their own businesses to deliver Amazon packages. The e-Commerce giant describes the program to prospective franchisees.
If you’re a customer-obsessed people person who loves coaching teams in a high speed, ever-changing environment, becoming an Amazon Delivery Service Partner is an ideal opportunity for you. As an owner, you will operate with 20-40 vans and have 40-100 employees. You’ll be fully responsible for hiring and developing a team of high-performing, hardworking drivers, while we take care of getting you set up and ready to operate out of an Amazon delivery station in your city. You’ll be expected to provide consistent coaching and support for your team to ensure the successful delivery of packages in a 7 days/week, 365 days/year operation.
image: Amazon Logistics
To learn more about this opportunity and begin the application process, Amazon recommend creating a dedicated Amazon account exclusively for this application and future business purpose. Check out more details In the application section, Amazon describes five qualifications for the Delivery Service Partner program:
- Experience hiring and developing great teams
- Ready to commit to being a hands on DSP owner full-time
- Available liquid assets of at least $30,000
- Strong credit history
- Previous business ownership preferred, but not required
In the application, one just needs to respond with a few basic “yes or no” questions about experience, past bankruptcies and current financial assets. After you express interest, there is a longer application Amazon will ask you to fill out, according to the website.
For those accepted into the program, the power of Amazon’s brand shouldn’t be underestimated, New York University Stern School of Business professor Anindya Ghose tells CNBC Make It (link).
“Associating yourself with the Amazon brand, even if you are one of several hundred delivery companies, is extremely powerful,” Ghose explains. If you start your own low-cost small business on your own, “then, it’s just your brand. And it’s going to take forever for anybody to establish their own brand. I think that, for me, is the biggest difference.”
There is also lot of media news about Amazon ordering 20,000 Mercedes-Benz Vans to expand its Delivery Service.
According to an article in Fortune (link), “Amazon has ordered 20,000 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans as it prepares to help people build small delivery companies. The company announced the news this week and added that it previously ordered 5,000 Sprinter vans. The vans will be leased by small business owners that have signed up for Amazon’s delivery service to deliver packages ordered through its service. According to CNNMoney, which discussed Amazon’s plans with the company, the business owners will lease the vans from third-party fleet management companies.”
The Wall Street Journal reports
“Amazon is aiming to handle more of its own deliveries to keep up with its surging growth, loosening its reliance on the U.S. Postal Service and companies such as FedEx Corp.
The company expects to have more than 100 vans on the road by year-end, and will take delivery on all 20,000 vans by the end of 2019, said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of world-wide operations.
The company won’t own any of the vans. Instead it will farm them out to fleet-management companies that will buy the vehicles and lease them to the small delivery-service providers.”