HOTW

Hands Off The Wheel (HOTW) is Amazon’s strategic approach to drive automation, scalability, and efficiency across its retail systems. It aims to replace human-managed processes - such as ordering, pricing, inventory management, and promotions - with algorithm-driven automation.

HOTW covers areas like:

• Automated Purchase Orders (Auto-PO)
• Dynamic pricing algorithms
• Self-service merchandising and catalog tools
• Machine-learning-based demand forecasting

For vendors, HOTW means:

• Less frequent direct contact with Amazon retail buyers
• More reliance on data quality, system signals, and self-service tools
• A shift toward scalable operations instead of account-level negotiations

Why HOTW matters:

• Increases Amazon’s operational speed and reduces overhead
• Requires vendors to invest in clean data, supply chain readiness, and digital capabilities
• Can impact how vendors plan availability, promotions, and replenishment

💡 Example: A vendor notices that Amazon no longer sends manual PO follow-ups - instead, replenishment is managed entirely by an algorithm as part of HOTW.

In short:
HOTW (Hands Off The Wheel) is Amazon’s retail automation strategy - replacing manual processes with scalable, algorithmic decision-making across procurement and operations.