Amazon's Launches Prime Now, An Hourly-Based Delivery Service
By Megan Zielinski, contributing writer
Amazon is getting products into customer’s hands even faster with the introduction of Prime Now—an hourly-based delivery service for Prime members to enjoy, receiving necessities from a nearby Amazon distribution center in their region in just hours upon ordering.
Members living in Manhattan, New York are the first to try out the new service, with the majority of orders being fulfilled directly from the new Amazon warehouse located on 34th Street. Amazon is offering a wide time-span for orders to be placed, allowing members to select items from sunrise to the stroke of midnight, all seven days of the week. For the “need-it-now” must-have items, orders will arrive at the customer’s doorstep in just one hour at the cost of $7.99, or the shipment is free if the two-hour option is selected instead.
Amazon is making it even easier for members to make purchases and for employees to complete orders with the development of the Prime Now app, syncing mobile orders straight to the Manhattan Distribution Center for immediate actions to take place to successfully get items sent out promptly. Using the easy search feature on the app, users can conveniently log in with their existing Prime account to choose from tens of thousands of items ranging from toiletries, kitchen gadgets, office supplies, and simple household products to electronics, children’s toys, headphones, and even flat-screen TV’s—all available to be delivered as weekly essentials or just in-time for a spur-of-the-moment, late-night party. The status of the delivery can even be tracked from the distribution center to the delivery location through the app with the smartphone’s GPS.
“We’ve long felt that Amazon Prime is the best deal in the history of shopping and now it has gotten even better. Prime members in Manhattan are going to love this service and we cannot wait to roll out Prime Now to additional cities in 2015,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations.
The new Prime service is a continuation of Amazon’s ongoing effort to satisfy customers with the fastest delivery methods—Amazon recently announced the inclusion of robotic technology assisting in the distribution centers to cut-down on wasted time, along with the testing of drones, bikes, and taxis to complete orders in rapid speeds.