Inside Newegg: They give us a Tour and you a Prize
by Anand Lal Shimpi on February 14, 2006 3:31 PM EST- Posted in
- IT Computing
The Beginning
Our journey starts in receiving, this part of the process actually has nothing specifically to do with your order but what's done here makes the rest of the process infinitely easier. Shipping trucks will pull up to the warehouse and unload cargo pallets filled with computer products. A pallet is a wooden or plastic platform that can be picked up using a forklift; palletized cargo is cargo placed on a pallet, which is how Newegg's inventory is shipped to them.
Once the pallets are received and unpacked they are sent off to receiving, which is a mere 30 feet away. The pallets don't just magically appear at Newegg, they are ordered from a set of offices and cubicles attached to the warehouse:
What you see in the picture below are a few Newegg employees at computer terminals surrounded by hundreds of boxes. What they are doing is scanning each and every item that comes into Newegg. If it's a retail product, such as a boxed AMD CPU, then the retail barcode is used and information is attached to it. If it is an OEM product, such as an OEM AMD CPU, then Newegg will create their own barcode for the product. The bar-coding process is quite important because Newegg's system actually associates a great deal of information with each barcode.
For every product that's scanned not only are its specifications entered into the system but so are its physical dimensions and the weight of the product. The importance of this is that when your order is placed, Newegg's system knows exactly what size box(es) to ship your order in as well as how heavy your order will be. After your order is complete and before it is boxed up, the weight of the order (as well as the barcodes on each item) is checked against Newegg's database to make sure that you are indeed getting what you ordered.
In the far left corner of the picture above is a station where Newegg will take pictures of any new products coming into their warehouse, which end up being listed along with the product on their website.
After the products are received by Newegg, they are then sent to one of two places - the staging area or "the racks" where actively shipping product is organized and ready for orders that are being placed immediately.
The picture above is closest to the receiving area, and thus is the emptiest of the staging area. Newegg's facility here is no where near full capacity but also important is the fact that Newegg doesn't keep product for very long at all, which allows them to usually take advantage of the best pricing possible and in turn offer highly competitive prices to their customers.
The farther away you get from the receiving area, the more crowded the warehouse becomes:
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Minot - Monday, February 20, 2006 - link
Anand, did Newegg give you any insight into their refurbished product opteration? I'd be interested to know where the items come from (i.e. percentage from working returns and percentage from manufacturers) and how often they arrive at Newegg. I'b been buying refurbished parts from Newegg for years and I've found some brands that always come with full accessories and others that are hit and miss. Is there any rhyme or reason to know the accessory status of the item before you order?Great article! Keep it up! -MINOT-
JumpyBL - Monday, February 20, 2006 - link
Any winners yet?DAPUNISHER - Saturday, February 18, 2006 - link
It is Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory for Computer enthusiasts :Pneweggvp - Friday, February 17, 2006 - link
To confirm what Anand explained, Newegg did not pay Anandtech for this article. Anand and Newegg just thought it would be nice to show a little bit of the Newegg operations.Newegg also has no affiliation with EggHead.
Hope this clears up a couple questions.
Best Regards,
NeweggVP.
andrep74 - Friday, February 17, 2006 - link
It's completely a win-win situation. NewEgg gets advertising, costing them perhaps a lunch with Anand, several CPUs for a contest, and draws more consumers to their website. Anand gets a free meal, perhaps some free product, and draws more readers to his website with a contest. Now if that isn't capitalism, what is?My kudos to them both...
PWNettle - Friday, February 17, 2006 - link
Thanks for the article - it's cool to read how NewEgg does its thing.I've bought parts for 3 builds and some additional components from NewEgg and I've always been very happy with it all.
UPS el cheapo shipping usually takes 3-4 days to reach me but it's not THAT big a deal since that's still pretty quick.
The only thing that irritates me is that when I order parts for a complete PC they usually get shipped from 2+ locations - and it's painful to have every part for a new build EXCEPT the case, which arrives the next day. :)
Davelo - Friday, February 17, 2006 - link
Is Newegg related to EggHead Software? Remember them?Glenn - Friday, February 17, 2006 - link
What a way to start my day!! Read this article and was enlightened and impressed with the way an order progresses and how they get them to me so fast! As usual Anand~ good work and thank you!Then I read all these bulls**t childish comments! I could go on for hours about what I'm thinking but all I really need to say is~ Anand has earned the respect of most of us because of his informative website and articles. I've gained most of my computer knowledge from his website since I first signed on in 1996. I really don't know what I would do without it. In my opinion, NewEgg owes some of its success to Anand and the exposure they gained in his forums. Particularly early on! I really don't mind if they paid Anand for the article, in fact, I hope they did! He earned it well before this article was ever written! A good part of these etailers profits are directly attributable to Anands website! With so many of us having the ability to share experiences, information and recommendations on this website they have benefited greatly! Keep it up Anand and I wish you continued success! My only recommendation would be to have the mods filter out the childish jerks that never seem to have anything productive to say about anything!
And jnmunsey, where do you come off with comments like that? What an idiot!
JBT - Thursday, February 16, 2006 - link
Man I wish I could spend just 5 minutes in there with a shopping cart...amish - Thursday, February 16, 2006 - link
i used my work email addy for the contest. not like i'm going to win, but i hope that any email that could be sent makes it through my employers spam guard.anyways, the pic of all of those CPUs just sitting there was awesome