Note to all retailers: No matter how much you fear Amazon, regardless of how many sales you think you’ve lost to it, I am here to tell you that it’s about to get much worse. This is because of a huge global supply chain move planned by Amazon, one that could disrupt product access, sharply lower Amazon’s costs and accelerate product delivery to shoppers. 

How can some changes to the supply chain do all that? Let’s look at what we know.

The news started with a report from Bloomberg Business that detailed a multiyear plan to have Amazon compete with UPS, FedEx and — most interestingly — Alibaba. This includes leasing planes and registering an ocean freight booking business. The plan, according to documents Bloomberg examined, is for “a global delivery network that controls the flow of goods from factories in China and India to customer doorsteps in Atlanta, New York and London. The project, called Dragon Boat, is proceeding.”

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