Why Amazon hub counters?
Fortunately, we humans are living in times when the world has become a global village. Virtual connectivity and ease of travel in the present time have played an imperative role in facilitating the hassle-free interaction and exchange of goods or services among the members of this village. Every person in this age is well connected with their virtual presence.
Online shopping, with this communicational and infrastructural progression, has spread out to be a global phenomenon. Every business, from street vendors to large organizations, has boarded this virtual world, competing to sell its products or services across the globe and to the maximum number of people. This competition among businesses has not only ensured convenience for the customers but has also helped improve the quality of both the products and services.
The easy exchange of reviews among customers against the products or services offered by businesses has compelled the sellers to constantly improve to stand out and survive this cutthroat competition.
“Convenience” has become the major measuring tool for the success of any online business. Every business is competing to ensure the satisfaction of their customers by delivering products or services with guaranteed low prices, the best quality, and the utmost convenience.
The changing preferences of people to shop online instead of going to stores physically to save both hassle and time have made it challenging for leading online retail giants like Amazon to ensure convenience through timely and fast deliveries.
Amazon being the world’s largest retail giant, having a global customer base and its operations spread across five continents, has left no stone unturned to ensure the fastest and most timely deliveries regardless of the distances.
What is Amazon Hub Counter?
To make the shopping experience convenient, Amazon has recently introduced the concept of hub counters. It is that service that enables the customers to store their products by directly ordering at the nearest Amazon-partnered locations.
In this hustling world, every individual runs on a busy schedule having much on their plates. It is nearly impossible for customers to keep the track of every online order they place. Moreover, keeping the track of the delivery of each order and being available at the address to receive the order is nearly impossible these days. Consequently, this service enables the customers to get their orders safely delivered to the nearest partner facilities to collect at their convenience.
Hub counters in simplest terms are the local stores almost in all the vicinities of major delivery areas appointed by Amazon with their trained staff to receive the orders on behalf of the customers and then dispatch the orders when customers arrive to pick them up.
Apart from ensuring convenience, hub counters also help increase the interaction between customers and Amazon. The staff directly appointed by Amazon dolls up the order when customers arrive to pick it up, it adds the human element and experience of interaction.
Furthermore, most of the orders by retail giants as big as Amazon or Walmart are delivered on the porches of the door without the need to disturb the customers. Mostly, customers direct the courier partners to deliver in the preferred area within the boundary of the residential address in the delivery instructions. Since couriers deliver the package or order without bothering the customer, chances for the package to get stolen from the door or any area are elevated. In case of theft from the door and customers claiming not to have received the package, either logistic or retail companies are held responsible to bear the loss and reimburse the full amount to the customers. Amazon hub counters are big relief in such cases as delivery to the secure partner location reduces the risk of packages being stolen. With this model of delivery, there is no security risk involved for Customers, retailers, or logistics companies.
One of the most challenging issues in currently times faced by e-commerce businesses is their return policy. Since the products purchased online have no physical validity, most of the orders are returned by customers for many reasons e.g. poor fit, size, color, or damaged products. The customer, who only ordered online for convenience, cannot get into the hassle to return the items by visiting the courier facility as there are no physical stores. Therefore, Amazon hub counters also serve customers as a facility to return products for any issues conveniently within the allowed return window. This saves cost, hassle, and time for the customers, logistics, and businesses.
What is the benefit for the local stores partnering with Amazon?
Hub counters are hosted by local stores that could be located in any vicinity or area. It could be your nearest grocery, hardware, pharmacy, or any other store that could serve or register as an Amazon counter hub if they have some extra space to collect the orders on behalf of the customers.
The major benefit these businesses get by partnering with Amazon is foot traffic and free advertisement. Once registered, these local businesses show as partner facilities on the Amazon websites getting free advertisement. Moreover, when customers arrive in these stores to collect their Amazon orders, it increases the foot traffic hence an opportunity for these stores to cross sale. The more customers come to collect their orders, the more chances for a local store to increase the sale of their own products too.
How to get registered for the Amazon hub counter?
If you are a local store and have some extra space, you can always visit Amazon’s Hub Partners page. Their future with Amazon and being a partner with it seems to be promising. Amazon is known for transforming the business model with the changing dynamics and keeps adding what seems to be in demand. Amazon in recent years and grown significantly and could further grow in different domains. Since Amazon is unlikely to open its physical stores, its reliance on these local stores and conventional businesses would probably increase to support its e-commerce models. With the popularity Amazon has gained globally, partnering with it as a local business is profitable and a win-win for all stakeholders.
