South Florida Amazon Fulfillment Center In High Gear For Cyber Monday Shopping
MIAMI (CBSMiami) - Cyber Monday is here and Amazon is geared up for what could be its busiest shopping day this year.
CBS4 got a look inside the Amazon fulfillment center in Opa-locka where they house tens of millions of items and products preparing for shipment worldwide. They pick, pack and ship out to many customers within hours of purchase with a conveyor belt that runs at seemingly lightning speed as items are constantly on the move.
"Once you hit that buy button, we have them pick out the product, they are brought over by Amazon robotics, then it is sent over to the packing area where it's put in a box or sometimes kept in the box that they are, know as our frustration-free packaging, and then they are sent over to the shipping area where they are scanned. Based on where the package is going and how fast it needs to get there, it is pushed to the right trailer," according to Amazon spokeswoman Saige Kolpack.
Depending on the package's final destination, Kolpack said Prime Members are going to get same-day shipping one-day shipping, and in some cases, the purchase may arrive hours after it was ordered.
Cyber Monday is expected to be one of the biggest sales days for the entire year for the giant. In 2018, Cyber Monday was Amazon's single biggest shopping day in its history. This year's Black Friday was Amazon's biggest-ever worldwide.
Nearly 70 million people are expected to shop online today according to the National Retail Foundation. The forecast that shoppers will spend $9.4 billion on Cyber Monday, a 19 percent increase from last year.
They also predict the average consumer will spend more than a thousand dollars on holiday shopping.
Amazon was once a major threat to the big box store, but this year they're seeing competition from Walmart and Target, who have beefed up their e-commerce and are reporting jumps in online spending compared to last year.