As part of its on-going efforts to revolutionize the way online retailers are perceived and to dominate the world of online purchasing, Amazon is now offering free-of-charge same day delivery to those who are subscribed to its Prime service in 500 different cities.
The standard $5.99 fee that used to be applied to this service has been dropped for those who currently part with their $99 annually to be a portion of the elite Prime subscription program. As you might expect, the new initiative does come with a few caveats but it’s undoubtedly another welcome string to the ever expanding bow that is Amazon Prime.
You may remember it wasn’t that long ago that Amazon introduced its Prime Now solution; a one-hour delivery service that was initially trialled in Manhattan and then subsequently extended to Baltimore and Miami allowing customers to receive certain items within 60 minutes of parting with their cash. The introduction of that amazingly quick delivery service, combined with the new announcement, seems to indicate that Amazon is committed to the long-term development of the Prime service and most definitely bent towards providing the best possible delivery solutions for consumers.
Of course, as mentioned earlier, the free-of-charge same-day delivery option does come with a few limitations. The offering is essentially a barebones version of what has been offered for quite some time as part of Prime’s free two-day delivery option. What we mean is that instead of serving up almost twenty million products that qualify for the free delivery, those looking to get the item for free on the same day will only have approximately one million products to choose from. Customers will also need to checkout and pay for their order before 12 noon to get the item the same day otherwise it will arrive the next working day.
Other limitations, if you can call them that, are that qualifying orders must amount to more than $35 in total and delivery has to be in one of the 14 metropolitan areas that are part of the same-day delivery network. With an estimated 30 – 40 million Prime customers in the United States Chris Rupp, Chief Executive of the Prime service, puts the success of his company’s subscription service down to continuing investment in fulfilment centres:
We can get items closer to customers, get more items in stock and be able to deliver as quickly as possible.
With competing companies such as Walmart and eBay currently investigating the possibilities of offering similar subscription plans with unlimited free shipping, it’s certainly looking like it’s going to be a competitive space in the very near future.
Head over to: amazon.com/sameday to get started.
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