If Amazon Accelerate 2025 made one thing clear, it’s that Amazon wants to be more than a marketplace.
From Global Warehousing and Distribution (GWD) to Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF), Amazon is consolidating logistics services into a seamless, AI-powered platform that they are hoping will serve as infrastructure for global commerce.
For sellers, this raises a fundamental question: how much does consolidation benefit sellers, and how much does it come at the cost of control?
Amazon Supply Chain Platform: Expanding Global and Channel Services in 2026
“80% of shoppers expect an exceptional fulfillment service as the normal” – Kelsey Ayres, Director of Product, MCF
Amazon announced several updates at Accelerate that push its logistics network beyond the marketplace:
- Amazon Global Logistics (AGL): A bundled service combining freight forwarding, customs clearance, and integrated transport. This option reduces complexity for international shipments.
- Multi-Channel Fulfillment (MCF): Now supports Shopify, Walmart, and Shein orders. Sellers can manage multiple sales channels from a single inventory pool.
- Automated Replenishment: AI-powered recommendations forecast demand spikes, identify regional inventory gaps, and suggest the best transportation routes.
- Supply Chain Dashboard: A centralized view of shipments, FC capacity, customs status, and landed costs for greater transparency.
These services are more than just upgrades; they represent Amazon’s effort to build what many sellers are calling the “AWS of logistics” – with the goal to eventually power retail beyond its own marketplace.
Amazon Supply Chain: Assessing Seller Opportunity (and Risk)
For many brands, Amazon’s network brings clear advantages:
- Elastic capacity: Amazon’s fulfillment system can absorb demand surges, even when forecasts are inaccurate – which they often are.
- Prime integration: With Buy With Prime and MCF, sellers can extend the Prime badge and delivery promise to their own sites and external marketplaces, using white-labeled solutions to leverage Amazon’s offerings without using their brand.
- Global reach: Amazon’s scale makes cross-border shipping faster and less complex than working with fragmented providers, especially with the announcement of new Amazon inventory centers in China.
And with 72% of shoppers expecting next-day or same-day delivery, according to Kelsey Ayres, Director of Product for MCF, it’s hard to understate the value of Amazon’s services in helping sellers meet seller expectations.
Of course, every layer of Amazon’s supply chain comes with trade-offs.
The Amazon Supply Chain Trade-Off: Efficiency vs. Control
Sellers who adopt GWD, AGL, and MCF are building efficiency within Amazon’s infrastructure, but they are also embedding their businesses deeper into it.
- Control: Amazon dictates inbound compliance standards, labeling rules, and routing requirements. That means brands must fit into Amazon’s systems rather than shape their own.
- Costs: While rates are competitive, they are bundled in ways that can make cost transparency difficult. Sellers may find it harder to forecast true landed cost without external benchmarks.
- Flexibility: The system is optimized for high-volume, standardized products. Brands that require custom kitting, personalization, or complex SKUs may find limitations.
In other words, Amazon offers the most seamless solution for straightforward fulfillment, but sellers should weigh how much strategic autonomy they are willing to give up.
How Tactical Creates a Supply Chain Advantage
Ayres advised partners to, “Think of MCF as Amazon’s 3PL.” But how much of your business do you really want Amazon to control?
This is where independent providers like Tactical Logistic Solutions stand apart. Tactical offers the speed and scale sellers need for Amazon inbound, while also providing flexibility across channels Amazon does not prioritize (and frankly, does not have a vested interest in).
- SplitSmart™ FBA Inbound vs. AWD: SplitSmart™ delivers faster placement into Amazon FBA, avoids surprise fees, and gives sellers more control over where inventory lands.
- Warehousing & Multi-Channel Fulfillment: Tactical supports Shopify, Walmart, Amazon, TikTok Shop, and direct-to-consumer equally, without bias toward a single platform.
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Prep Services: With Amazon eliminating FBA Prep services in 2026, Tactical offers end-to-end prep and labeling to keep inventory compliant and Amazon-ready.
- Expertise Across Complex SKUs: Tactical handles the SKUs Amazon avoids: fragile goods, hazmat, multi-pick, and returns management, to name a few.
- Transparency and Partnership: Sellers gain clear pricing, proactive communication and partnership, and access to experienced human support, not just algorithms.
By leaning on Tactical, sellers gain independence in an increasingly consolidated ecosystem. Amazon’s stack is powerful, but complexity and strategic flexibility remain moats that independent logistics providers can own.
Want to see what Tactical can do for your business? Book a call with our team here.
Amazon Supply Chain and Logistics: What’s Next?
Amazon is betting big on logistics and its investment in global warehousing, AI replenishment, and multi-channel fulfillment is reshaping how sellers plan and execute their operations. For brands, these tools can be a launchpad for growth. At the same time, sellers must remain aware of the risks of over-reliance on a single platform.
The future belongs to those who balance both: leveraging Amazon’s infrastructure where it creates efficiency, and partnering with independent providers like Tactical Logistic Solutions where control, flexibility, and complexity demand it.
When Ayres was asked to give a piece of advice to sellers, she said, “Use what we’ve already built.”
We agree. We’ve been partnering with Amazon sellers for over a decade, and we’ve built solutions that are designed to give you peace of mind in your supply chain without sacrificing control.
If that sounds good to you, Book a Call with a member of our team to get started.