Scott Galloway provides a short video where he shares some crazy statistics about Amazon. For example, did you know that within 45 minutes of an order being placed at Amazon, it is already loaded on a truck! In that video, Prof G also references a book where you can get many more details, Arriving Today: From Factory to Front Door — Why Everything Has Changed About How and What We Buy. This short video might be fun to show in class when you cover Chapter 3 (where we have a chapter opening case study of Amazon), Chapter 11 (logistics) or Chapter 12 (retailing).

This short (9 minute) Planet Money podcast titled “Full (ware)house” covers some interesting trends in the warehouse space. One current situation is that in spite of a boom in warehouse construction, there is a shortage of space. A second trend is a movement in where warehouses are located — with them moving from rural locations, to the exurbs, suburbs and even into urban environments. The idea is to have goods stored closer to consumers for faster delivery. All this is driven by changing consumer shopping habits.

This is a great example of the effects of the pandemic. As the pandemic accelerated online shopping, companies found they were more willing to pay for higher priced storage closer to consumers. I find my students like to listen to short podcasts as a supplement to the textbook chapter. The topic can lead to interesting classroom discussion when you discuss Place in Chapters 10 and 11.