Just when other retailers thought they were getting a breather, Amazon comes again with additional growth with same-day delivery. This time, it is Seattle’s turn.
Amazon has announced it is expanding same-day delivery into its’ very own Seattle. Prime Now is officially in the hometown of the web-leading retailer. The service is now available to be used for “tens of thousands” of products Amazon announced yesterday. The Seattle cities that can use Prime Now includes not only Seattle, but also Bellevue, Redmond and Kirkland zip codes. More zip codes will probably follow.
Prime members pay $99 per year to have free two-day shipping. Prime Now is free for all members now, which is performed within a two-hour window. One-hour delivery is available for $8. Deliveries for the service are made between 8am and 12am local time, seven days a week. Other e-retailers and physical store retailers that have engaged in same-day delivery have their various models, such as delivering all orders placed by 1pm. Most of them charge for their services, from $5 and up also.
The article mentions how Amazon’s Prime Now is helping the web-based retailer to compete with big-box retailers like Wal-Mart and Target. Wal-Mart is making heavy global web investments, becoming sole owner of China online retail leader Yahaodian. The company offers same-day delivery and next-day delivery. With Wal-Mart’s acquisition, it will surely implement a service to compete with all of the Amazon growth. Wal-Mart currently has same-day delivery in several US cities and free same-day shipping is available in Canada to prevent Amazon.ca from having a hold on the market there.
Target has partnered with Google to perform its’ same-day delivery. Its’ e-commerce running well and showing that Target is doing something right. Target’s web sales are up 26.1% from this time last year. Ship-from-store services is what Target has its’ sights on, planning to triple the number of stores that will fulfill online orders in the second half of the year from 140 to 450. This service can easily be the platform for expanding the same-day delivery programs it already has in place.
Amazon said its’ service is allowing customers to “skip a trip to the store.” Prime Now started last December and has greatly expanded since. It has now rolled out free same-day service to Prime Members in California and Seattle. More major US cities will be added, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Baltimore, Boston, Dallas-Fort Worth, Indianapolis, Philadelphia, Phoenix, San Diego, Tampa Bay, Washington DC, New York, and Atlanta. At this pace, Amazon will be offering free same-day delivery nationwide.
A number of retailers have their own game plan to gain ground online. Many are implementing same-day delivery by partnering with a same-day courier like 1-800Courier. With its’ expertise, the Atlanta Courier can create efficient courier logistic solutions to help retailers thrive online.
Reference: 8.26.15, Yahoo News, Don Reisinger, Amazon’s same-day delivery comes to Seattle
