Amazon ramped up the pressure on US brick-and-mortar stores on Wednesday, announcing the immediate launch of its same-day delivery service in six more cities across the country, namely Baltimore, Dallas, Indianapolis, New York City, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.
Amazon customers in the new cities, together with those living in locations where the same-day delivery option is already available (Boston, Chicago, LA, Phoenix, San Francisco, and Seattle), can order online from among millions of items seven days a week, and receive it to their door by 9pm on the same day. The cut-off time for orders is between 12.15pm and 1pm in all cities except Chicago, where you’ll have to hit the online checkout early – 7.45am – in order to see your goods arrive before the day’s through.
Pricing
Amazon Prime members are charged $5.99 per delivery, with no limit placed on the number of items included in each consignment. Prime membership costs $99 a year.
Non-Prime members can also take advantage of the service, though at $9.98 for the first item, plus 99 cents for each additional item, it could start to get pricey.
Once you’ve finished shopping on the site, you simply check the ‘Get it Today’ box on the left of the screen to see which products are eligible for same-day delivery. The e-commerce giant says the service covers items such as new movie and video game releases, tech accessories, everyday household items, health and beauty products, and back-to-school supplies, among others.
Expansion
The expansion of Amazon’s same-day service indicates the company’s determination to offer the kind of immediacy up until recently only offered by brick-and-mortar stores. The deal is bound to prove tempting for Amazon customers – especially Prime members – with the shopping experience becoming even more convenient for users.
Amazon is also looking into the idea of super-fast deliveries with its much-publicized drone-based Prime Air delivery service, a project that’s reportedly making steady progress.
