Operator glossary
Supply Chain by Amazon (SCA)
Amazon's umbrella logistics offer — AGL ocean freight into AWD bulk storage, auto-replenishing FBA, spilling into MCF for off-Amazon orders — the pitch: hand Amazon the whole chain.
SCA packages the pieces into one managed flow: book origin freight (AGL), land it in upstream bulk storage (AWD), let auto-replenishment feed FBA, and serve other channels from the same pool (MCF). Amazon's pitch is a single integrated pipeline with placement fees waived on the AWD→FBA leg and unified tracking.
The counter-consideration is concentration risk: one vendor holding your freight, storage, fulfillment, and marketplace creates leverage you cannot negotiate against. Many operators adopt the middle path — AWD as the Q4 buffer and placement-fee arbitrage, while keeping a second freight lane and a 3PL relationship alive as structural alternatives.
The numbers
- Components: AGL (freight) → AWD (bulk storage) → FBA auto-replenishment → MCF (external channels).
- AWD→FBA transfers skip inbound placement fees; the trade is single-vendor concentration across the chain.
Primary sources: Supply Chain by Amazon (official)
Related terms