Operations

Amazon is an online retailer that deals with a wide range of products and operates in many countries. Each product offered by the company is fed into its inventory management system, where its status at the company is indicated. The products can be categorized as available, inbound, unfulfillable, or reserved. Products tagged “available" can be ordered and shipped to the client since they are in the company's stock. Inbound products are goods that have been scheduled in shipping plans, in-transit, or currently being processed at the fulfillment warehouses. Unfulfillable products are available in the company’s warehouse but cannot be ordered or purchased because they are either under inspection or repair due to damages. The last category of goods on Amazon's website is categorized under reserved products. This means that they are received by the company's fulfillment centers and are associated with another warehouse or under shipment. One of Amazon's unique operational features is flexibility and customer autonomy. The company encourages buyers to return undesired products through brick-and-mortar stores near their homes instead of shipping them back to the supplier to cut down on automobile emissions. Amazon has partnered with Kohl's specifically to support this reverse logistics supply chain. Kohl’s retail stores now accept Amazon returns of a wide range of products, whether it be clothing and accessories, similar to what Kohl’s sells, or pet supplies and electronics, which might not be in stock anywhere on its shelves.