Case

Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery

Author(s)

Russell Walker

Rafique Jiwani

In a December 1, 2013, interview on American television program 60 Minutes, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos announced that Amazon would soon change the future of online shopping by enabling customers to receive items within thirty minutes of ordering. This delivery service, Bezos said, would be powered by unmanned autonomous drones and could be offered as soon as 2015. The market reaction was instantaneous and positive.

Still, Amazon needed some answers before it could launch autonomous delivery services: Were customers ready to embrace and pay for this type of delivery service? Would regulators allow it? Should Amazon make or buy its drones? Would it be too risky for Amazon to wait to launch this service? If it decided to go ahead, how should it launch, and to whom?

Spanish translation available.

Date Published: 09/14/2015
Discipline: Strategy
Key Concepts: E-Commerce, Growth Strategy, Information Technology, Innovation, Logistics, Operations Management, Productivity, Risk Management, Service Strategy, Technology Management
Citations: Walker, Russell, Rafique Jiwani. Reinventing E-Commerce: Amazon's Bet on Unmanned Vehicle Delivery. 5-315-501 (KEL911).
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