Amazon fulfillment center. Source: Creative Commons
Amazon, the largest internet-based retailer in North America, announced in early June that it would be opening a new distribution center in the town of Lancaster, according to The Buffalo News. The new facility, located at 4201 Walden Ave., will serve as a “sortation center,” where its primary focus will be sorting packages by ZIP code to increase the speed and efficiency of package deliveries, the local newspaper reported.
The center is projected to create nearly 500 new jobs for the Buffalo community, as well as spawning an opportunity for increased productivity and sales for entrepreneurs in the Western New York area.
The idea is simple; Amazon gets over 100 million visitors to its site every month, which allows for a much larger audience to view entrepreneurs’ products that may have never been readily available to a mass audience.
With the new sortation facility, a 525,000-square- foot warehouse, previously rented by the supermarket company Ahold USA, local businesses also will be afforded the opportunity to have their products shipped quickly through the same company they worked with to sell their product, The Buffalo News said.
Amazon is a company that is self-proclaimed to be driven by innovation. According to its website, the company created a program called Amazon Launchpad in June of 2015, with the intent to help startup companies with little experience market, sell and distribute their products. The page, which features products from electronics to beauty products to board games, allows the opportunity for almost anyone to get their product out on the world stage.
Amazon does charge a small fee for every product sold on their site, but that cost would most likely be inconsequential if a local product were to become popular on the site.
If used properly, Amazon Launchpad could become an attractive tool for many local entrepreneurs with the hope that their product can gain national attention. With the building of the sortation center, it may be a final reason for many to look into using Amazon for their business.
Read more articles by Sean Brock.
A native of Western New York, Brock has worked in the field of writing and public relations over the past several years, while also gaining a master’s degree from Canisius College this May. He has worked for several universities and professional sports teams in a public relations capacity during that time, and has always kept a love for writing. In his free time Brock enjoys hiking, history, reading and watching as many baseball and football games as he can.