Where Does Amazon Ship From In 2023? (Your Full Guide)
As an Amazon seller, being familiar with Amazon‘s vast fulfillment and distribution system is incredibly valuable. When you understand how FBA shipping works and Amazon‘s network of fulfillment centers, you can optimize your workflow and improve the shipping experience for your customers.
In this expansive 2800+ word guide, we‘ll explore Amazon‘s global fulfillment operations to uncover how Amazon ships orders, where your FBA inventory is stored, how FCs work, and what the future holds for Amazon‘s logistics empire. Let‘s dive in!
The Rapid Growth of Amazon‘s Fulfillment Network
Since its founding in 1997, Amazon has aggressively expanded their fulfillment and logistics capabilities to meet surging ecommerce demand and enable faster delivery promises. Here‘s a snapshot of how their fulfillment empire has grown:
In 2013, Amazon had just 89 fulfillment centers totaling about 40 million square feet of space globally. At the time they were only in a handful of countries beyond the US.
By 2019, Amazon had nearly tripled their fulfillment network to over 250 centers and 85 million square feet around the world. Their international expansion was accelerating.
Today in 2023, Amazon boasts 185 fulfillment and sortation centers occupying over 150 million square feet across North America, Europe, Asia and beyond.
Driving this growth is Amazon‘s rocketing sales volume and Prime membership. Net sales have ballooned from $34 billion in 2011 to over $292 billion in 2020. Prime members have surged to over 200 million globally as of 2021.
To keep up with this demand, Amazon has been opening ~30 new fulfillment centers annually, each over 500,000 square feet in size. In 2022 alone, they added FCs in North Dakota, Mississippi, Alabama, Iowa and numerous other states to patch holes in their network.
Let‘s explore what powers these rapidly expanding fulfillment and logistics operations.
Breakdown of Amazon‘s US Fulfillment Center Network
Within the United States, Amazon has positioned fulfillment centers in every region to provide broad coverage and rapid delivery times to customers coast to coast.
Here is an overview of how their 110 FCs in the US are distributed:
The Northeast houses 24 fulfillment centers in densely populated states like New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts.
The Southeast region contains 29 FCs across states including Florida, Georgia, Virginia, Tennessee, and the Carolinas.
In the Midwest you‘ll find 20 fulfillment centers located in Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Minnesota, among other states.
The West Coast is home to 26 fulfillment centers in Amazon‘s home states of Washington and California as well as Oregon and Nevada.
The Southwest hosts 11 facilities primarily situated in Texas and Arizona.
This distribution enables Amazon to offer speedy ground shipping to virtually every corner of the country. But what does the breakdown look like at a state level? Here are the states with the most and fewest Amazon FCs:
| **Most FCs** | **# of FCs** | **Fewest FCs** | **# of FCs** |
| California | 21 | Colorado | 1 |
| Texas | 20 | Oklahoma | 1 |
| New Jersey | 11 | Utah | 1 |
| Pennsylvania | 9 | Idaho | 1 |
| Florida | 8 | Connecticut | 1 |
This concentration in strategic regions like the coasts and Great Lakes region minimizes transit times and expands Prime eligibility.
Different Types of Amazon Fulfillment Centers
While discussing Amazon‘s fulfillment network, it‘s important to understand the various roles and configurations of their facilities:
Large Fulfillment Centers – These massive warehouses between 500,000 – 1 million sq ft handle standard order fulfillment. They are optimized for fast processing of a wide range of products.
Sortation Centers – Facilities around 100,000 sq ft that consolidate shipments headed to the same region and sort by zip code before last mile. This streamlines delivery.
Specialty Fulfillment – Unique centers designed for specific product categories like books, apparel, consumer electronics, and grocery.
Prime Now Hubs – Local warehouses stocking fastest-moving essential items to enable 1-2 hour Prime Now delivery in cities.
By leveraging different types of fulfillment facilities, Amazon maximizes efficiency for all delivery speeds and categories of products.
Inside Amazon‘s Largest Fulfillment Centers
To truly appreciate the immense scale of Amazon‘s operations, let‘s take a look inside some of their most massive fulfillment centers.
The Robbinsville, New Jersey fulfillment center spans a whopping 2.6 million square feet. That‘s equal to over 45 football fields! This huge 4-story facility employs over 4,500 associates.
The Shakopee, Minnesota fulfillment center opened in 2016 and encompasses 1.1 million square feet. It utilizes advanced robotic systems to improve efficiency. This is larger than 28 football fields.
The Tracy, California FC clocks in at 1 million square feet – bigger than 23 football fields. It provides great access to routes serving California and the greater West Coast.
And at the Edwardsville, Illinois fulfillment center, over 1.2 million square feet of space is powered by Amazon Robotics. At over 27 football fields, it‘s their second largest FC.
Inside an Amazon fulfillment center – miles of conveyors, robots, and optimal workflows.
Within these enormous facilities, you‘ll find:
- Multiple levels, often including mezzanine floors
- Millions of products stowed across huge storage grids
- Teams of hundreds of workers per shift
- Miles of computer-controlled conveyor systems threading the building
- Squads of robots whisking shelves to workers to fulfill orders
- Hundreds of truck loading bays to swiftly move inventory
By leveraging state-of-the-art technology and processes, these FCs can rapidly process over a million orders per day during peak periods like Prime Day or the holidays.
Amazon‘s Expanding International Fulfillment Presence
While Amazon originated in the US, they‘ve taking the same customer-obsessed and efficient approach to building out fulfillment infrastructure abroad:
Canada – Amazon has 9 FCs across major Canadian cities including Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver, and Montreal.
Mexico – 5 Amazon FCs exist in Mexico including Mexico City, Guadalajara, and Monterrey to serve this growth market.
Europe – Over 50 FCs are spread across Europe including 20 in the UK and others in Spain, Italy, France, Germany and beyond.
Asia – Key Asian FCs can be found in India, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Indonesia, China, allowing expansion in the region.
Australia – Amazon launched in Australia in 2017 and now has fulfillment centers in Sydney, Melbourne, and Perth.
Their approach is tailored to each country. Factors like proximity to customers, transportation routes, tax incentives, and workforce availability drive FC placement to maximize efficiency.
Expanding globally brings Amazon closer to international customers and improves delivery speeds even across continents.
How Amazon Fulfills and Ships FBA Orders
A big perk of Fulfillment By Amazon (FBA) is that you can count on Amazon‘s world-class processes for order fulfillment. Here is what happens behind the scenes when a customer places an order:
Your inventory arrives from you at an Amazon fulfillment center via bulk shipments. It is unloaded, scanned, and quickly stowed by Amazon staff in an assigned inventory zone.
When a customer purchases your product on Amazon, the fulfillment center system directs a picker to your item‘s location to retrieve it.
The product is scanned, packed into a shipping box, sealed securely, and conveyed to the shipping area.
Following Amazon‘s optimized shipping logic, your customer‘s order is routed to the correct truck or plane.
Your product quickly makes its way to the customer‘s doorstep, with tracking updates every step of the way!
The streamlined process allows Amazon to accurately fulfill orders at lightning speed. For you as a seller, it means hands-off order processing and happier customers.
How Amazon Determines Where to Ship FBA Inventory From
A common seller question is how Amazon decides which fulfillment center to ship a customer order from. While their algorithm is proprietary, these key factors come into play:
Inventory availability – Amazon stocks bestselling products in FCs across regions, so they‘ll ship from a location having on-hand inventory.
Proximity to customer – Local FCs can offer quicker ground shipping, so proximity is optimized.
Promise delivery time – For 2-day Prime orders, Amazon may ship from further away to meet the commitment.
Bundling orders – If a customer orders multiple products, Amazon will ship from the same FC if possible.
So Amazon balances speed, cost efficiency and service level to determine the source FC that makes the most logistical sense for each order.
Future Expansion Plans for Amazon‘s Fulfillment Network
Even after building 185 fulfillment centers, Amazon keeps growing their distribution footprint:
More fulfillment centers – Amazon typically opens about 30 new FCs yearly adding millions of square feet in capacity. Recent new US sites include FCs in North Dakota, New Hampshire and Alabama.
Increasing automation – Amazon is quickly incorporating robotics and other automation to streamline fulfillment. Their goal is to perfect futuristic fulfillment processes.
Expanding air network – The Amazon Air fleet doubled to 90 planes in just 3 years. New air cargo hubs across the US facilitate moving inventory rapidly between FCs.
By continually investing billions in fulfillment infrastructure and technology, Amazon pushes the boundaries of speed at global scale.
Key Takeaways – Where Amazon Orders Ship From
In 2023, Amazon operates over 185 fulfillment centers worldwide to enable fast, reliable order delivery. Their extensive US fulfillment network includes 110 FCs optimally positioned to reach customers coast to coast.
Sophisticated inventory management and logistics systems determine the ideal FC to fulfill each order from based on item availability, proximity to customer, and delivery speed.
By mastering state-of-the-art fulfillment technology and processes, Amazon has built an industry-leading distribution network that brings smile-worthy convenience to customers and valuable order fulfillment capabilities to marketplace sellers.
Understanding the power behind the Amazon fulfillment machine helps you as a seller optimize your relationship with FBA, improve inventory planning decisions, provide more accurate delivery estimates, and ultimately delight your own customers.
