Amazon Sets Standards in Speedy Delivery

There is some good news for the Amazon Prime Members as the company announces to offer free same-day delivery to its Prime subscribers in 14 metropolitan areas.

The online retailer's speedy service will begin offering free same-day delivery to customers who subscribe to its $99 per year Prime service. Previously, these Prime members had to pay $5.99 per order for the same day delivery option.

The service is free for orders of more than $35 and the customers have a wide array of products to choose from. The company guarantees a 9 p. m. delivery on orders placed before noon and will use third-party courier services to offer delivery.

Greg Greeley, Amazon Vice President stated," This lets people get back to doing what they want to do instead of running errands. We've been looking for ways to enhance the Prime customer experience ever since we started it in 2005, and this is one more step in that evolution".

Same-day delivery is already available in 12 metro areas and Amazon announced that will also include San Diego and Tampa Bay for the same-day delivery option, bringing it to a total of 14 metropolitan areas that houses about 50 million people.

Michael Pachter, Analyst at Wedbush Securities, Los Angeles stated that by providing free same-day delivery, Amazon will continue to take the market share away from brick-and-mortar retailers. He added that though the impact of this free swift service won't be huge but it will ensure Amazon's single digit percentage market share in a bunch of categories and so the physical retailers will have trouble matching.

Amazon spokesman wittingly stated that the company would not disclose its delivery methods as they form part of the company's 'secret sauce' that has made it so successful.

According to EMarketer, this year online sales in US are expected to increase 14% to $349 billion. Thus, Amazon's move seems quite warranted as it tries to set the standard for speed in the e-commerce industry.