The news: Amazon is opening its global logistics network to healthcare, automotive, manufacturing, and retail companies with the launch of Amazon Supply Chain Services (ASCS).

The offering provides access to Amazon’s freight, distribution, fulfillment, and parcel shipping capabilities. Early adopters highlight the range of use cases:

• Procter & Gamble uses Amazon’s freight services to move raw materials and finished goods.
• 3M transports products from manufacturing sites to global distribution centers.
• Lands’ End uses a unified inventory pool to fulfill orders across channels.
• American Eagle uses Amazon’s parcel network to deliver ecommerce orders nationwide.

Why it matters: Amazon has offered third-party services to marketplace sellers for two decades, building a business that grew 10.3% YoY to nearly $172.2 billion in revenues last year, or roughly a quarter of its total. Until now, those services weren’t packaged as a cohesive solution for companies looking to outsource all or part of their supply chain.

By formalizing and expanding that offering through ASCS, it is positioning itself as a direct competitor to established 3PL providers like DSV, DHL, and Kuehne + Nagel. That creates a pathway to grab a larger share of the global 3PL market that’s estimated to generate more than $1.4 trillion this year, per Armstrong & Associates.

The move echoes Amazon’s 2006 launch of AWS. In both cases, the company built infrastructure to solve internal challenges, then turned around and sold that solution as a service. ASCS commercializes Amazon’s logistics network—spanning freight, fulfillment, and last-mile delivery—while leveraging its scale to help businesses navigate peak demand and disruptions.

The offering covers three core areas: end-to-end freight across ocean, air, ground, and rail; distribution and fulfillment powered by a unified inventory pool and AI-driven forecasting; and parcel shipping with two- to five-day delivery across channels. Together, these capabilities give businesses access to the same infrastructure Amazon uses to deliver billions of packages each year.

Implications for businesses and 3PLs: Amazon is strengthening its edge by layering new revenue streams onto existing infrastructure, giving it more money to invest in scale and efficiency and making it harder for competitors to keep up.

That operational advantage also feeds back into its core retail business: The faster it can get consumers’ online orders to their doors, the more everyday essentials like paper towels and shampoo it sells. Faster, more efficient logistics also raises the bar for competitors and may push more retailers and brands to partner with Amazon.

With more companies outsourcing logistics—94% of US Fortune 500 companies now work with at least one 3PL, up from 46% in 2001, per Armstrong & Associates—Amazon has a significant opportunity to turn its operational expertise into another fast-growing, high-margin business.