Amazon delivery box (Photo : Reuters)
As part of its expansion of its Prime Now service, ecommerce giant Amazon.com said on Tuesday that it would deliver wine, beer and spirits to U.S. customers within one hour. The service is initially available in Seattle where the company's headquarters is located.
To avail of the service, online shoppers must pay $99 a year and be a member of Amazon Prime. As a member, consumers could expect free delivery for other items within two days on millions of goods available on Amazon's website, from television sets to on-demand video, reports the New York Post.
The company launched Amazon Prime in New York in 2014, and since then it has around 40 million members worldwide. However, while on-demand grocery delivery is a fast-expanding industry in the U.S., Amazon Fresh has been observed to be slower to expand to new markets. In contrast, competitors such as Instacart would expand to its 17th city, Indianapolis, while Postmates - which delivers meals, personal care goods and alcohol - taps a network of couriers to meet customer demand.
Meanwhile, Amazon UK is waiving its delivery fees for orders that would be sent to one of its Pickup Locations which consumers can pick up at a time of their convenience. The 13,000 locations are in rail, tube or petrol stations, news agents or Post Office, reports Engadget.
The new option would benefit people who go to workplaces and there is no one at home to wait for the deliveries. Other options to avail of free delivery from Amazon UK are to spend 20 pounds under the Super Saver Delivery or join the 79-pound Prime program.
