ORLANDO, Florida – American Eagle Outfitters has emerged as an early customer of Amazon’s third-party parcel delivery operation and now regards the service as one of its strongest-performing carriers, company executives said Tuesday at an industry conference.
The retailer, which operates a multi-carrier e-commerce transportation strategy, began cautiously testing Amazon Shipping before incorporating the service into its broader network.
Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) has significantly expanded its position as a third-party logistics provider over the past two years. The company has increasingly commercialized transportation, fulfillment and parcel capabilities originally developed to support its own online retail operation.
After initially making individual freight, fulfillment and parcel services available to selected shippers, Amazon launched Amazon Supply Chain Services earlier this year as a unified commercial brand bringing those capabilities together.
Amazon Shipping itself began a soft launch three years ago and has operated in Europe for five years. Under the service, Amazon trucks collect parcels from customers and transport them to Amazon sortation centers. Packages are subsequently organized by ZIP code, moved toward their final destinations and eventually loaded onto local delivery vans alongside Amazon’s own packages.
American Eagle expands Amazon Shipping after successful pilot
American Eagle (NASDAQ: AEO), whose portfolio includes Aerie, Offline, Todd Snyder and Unsubscribed, first approached Amazon Shipping cautiously.
The company conducted a pilot in spring 2025 and moved quickly to add the carrier to its transportation network ahead of the holiday peak.
For Brandon Friez, American Eagle’s senior vice president of global logistics and supply chain intelligence, two of the most significant problems addressed by Amazon Shipping were seven-day delivery and predictable pricing.
Speaking during a Parcel Forum 26 session, Friez said the retailer’s most unexpected benefit was the carrier’s performance during the busiest shipping period of the year.
American Eagle had been concerned that Amazon’s Prime Day surge could put pressure on delivery capacity, particularly if Amazon’s system prioritized its own rapidly increasing order volumes. Those concerns did not materialize.
Delivery speeds remained consistent throughout the holiday season, rather than deteriorating as the peak approached.
“Normally, every day as we approach peak we’re stressing about what carriers we’re turning off because we’re watching their performance [degrade],” Friez told hundreds of parcel industry professionals and shippers attending the event.
Instead, he said American Eagle experienced what it considered its best peak season for consumers.
The reliability extended across several stages of the operation, including pickups from distribution centers, communications with customers and information sent back to American Eagle.
Weekend delivery closes a major service gap
American Eagle has 1,170 stores throughout North America, four distribution centers and fulfills online orders from approximately 700 stores.
That extensive retail footprint also creates significant expectations around delivery speed.
One recurring problem was the difficulty of meeting fast-delivery expectations for orders placed late in the week because many last-mile carriers do not provide weekend service.
Amazon Shipping effectively removed one to two days from some delivery timelines. According to the company’s supply chain executives, that helped reduce overall delivery time by 16%.
Jen Baikr, American Eagle’s vice president of transportation and customer promise, said the company deliberately wanted to maintain a multi-carrier network rather than become overly dependent on a single provider.
Amazon was therefore evaluated alongside the retailer’s other carriers based on cost, speed and quality. When Amazon offered the most suitable option for a particular package’s characteristics, American Eagle selected the service.
Predictable pricing becomes another advantage
Shipping costs have also become a source of frustration for retailers as carriers have increasingly introduced fuel and delivery surcharges.
For American Eagle, Amazon’s predictable and transparent pricing addressed that uncertainty.
Friez emphasized that consistent pricing is particularly important when transportation expenses have to remain within an established budget. Frequent changes from logistics partners can make it more difficult for a retailer to plan and operate efficiently.
Amazon also performed strongly on another metric important to American Eagle: its contact-per-order ratio.
The measurement tracks how frequently consumers contact a company through its website, call centers or chat services to complain about a delivery. Friez said Amazon recorded the best result among the roughly dozen carriers used by American Eagle.
Delivery becomes part of the customer experience
For American Eagle, delivery is increasingly viewed as more than a transportation expense.
Friez described delivery as both a cost center and a growth driver, particularly as younger consumers develop increasingly demanding expectations for speed and convenience.
The retailer invests heavily in its brands and customer experience, making the final delivery interaction an important part of that relationship.
According to Friez, speed alone is not necessarily the defining requirement. Reliability and consistency are equally important, including providing customers with dependable tracking information and a predictable experience.
An inconsistent delivery experience can undermine the work a retailer has invested in building its brand.
Amazon links delivery quality to repeat business
Theresa Uthurralt, director of business development for Amazon Shipping, said Amazon’s internal data indicates that 85% of customers will not return to a seller after a poor delivery experience.
She also pointed to the opposite effect: strong delivery performance can contribute directly to customer activity.
According to Uthurralt, delivery quality can influence checkout conversion rates, basket sizes and shopping frequency, creating a measurable return on investment for businesses.
For Amazon, the message is straightforward: reliable delivery is closely connected to commercial performance.
Why It Matters
American Eagle’s experience is a major real-world example of how Amazon Shipping is being integrated into an established retailer’s multi-carrier strategy.
The retailer’s positive review could also provide a confidence boost for customers considering the relatively new third-party delivery option. At the same time, Amazon’s expanding role in parcel movement also presents another competitive factor for traditional carriers as the company develops capabilities that could see it take an even bigger piece of the parcel pie.
