About This Lesson
Amazon is a dominating presence in you everyday life. As the popularity of the company rises, so does the expansive variety of items they offer. To offer so many products, the corporation has to develop technology to work with it. Here are some of the advances that they have put together to make their and your lives easier.
Click It
When you set up an account with Amazon, you have the option to select the 1-click payment. Once you choose this, you will just have to log into your account when you want to purchase an item and click on the “buy” button.; It will automatically charge it against the credit card you have put on file and ship it to the shipping address you have listed. You can avoid internet pages of payment information and shipping locations this way making your shopping experience quick and easy.
Cloud Computing
Being able to access programs and apps for your computer or store information safely away from your hard drive is an innovative idea. This kind of technology, called cloud computing, has been around for corporations for years. However, Amazon has built a platform to offer it now to the average consumer. Amazon Web Services, or AWS, commands a large portion of the business and is widely used by individuals and businesses alike. Along with this came aws security and a better way to protect your business.
Drone Delivery
It seems to be the mission of the company to provide the quickest, most efficient delivery possible to its customers. One such option that Amazon is testing it having packages delivered through their “Prime Air” program. This drone based system has the machines drop the packages at your door within a half hour of you placing the order online. This is still in the planning stages and has yet to be fully implemented but could be a reality in the near future.
Cashierless Stores
Soon you will be able to shop Amazon in your neighborhood as well as online. The unusual difference with these stores however is the lack of checkouts and cashiers to man them. At the Amazon Go stores, you will log on to your app on your phone when you walk in and go shopping. When you are done, you walk out with your items in hand. Through cameras, algorithms and other sorts of technology, the company is able to run the credit card that you have on hand to purchase them. The prototype shops are still working out the kinks but will be up and running soon.
Independent Publishing and E-Ink Tablets
Many people dream to be published authors. Until recently, the road to becoming one was difficult and confusing. Today, if you know how to work with word processing software and make .pdf files as well as follow the instructions they give, you can become an author on Amazon. Kindle Direct Publishing, a division of Amazon, allows you to upload a manuscript to their platform and create it either into an e-book or a print copy. You can also enjoy these e-books using the reader developed by the company. Instead of using back light to display the text which can hurt your eyes, the tablet uses pixels is various shades to make up the words. When you virtually turn the page, the pixels rearrange into the text on the new page. Since it needs an outside source of light to be used, it is safer on your eyesight.
Warehouse Practices
Drones are just one of the automated systems Amazon uses to serve its customers. Currently in their warehouses, robots pick the orders that come in off the shelves and delivers them to be packaged. This allows the company to offer their famous two day shipping promise since they can have the purchased products taken from the warehouse and sent to shipping within hours of it being paid for online. This satisfies the customer since they get what they bought quickly and cuts labor costs by using automated labor versus paying an individual to do it.
