SEATTLE (dpa-AFX) - Online retailer Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN) on Thursday launched a new superfast service in select areas of Manhattan to deliver tens of thousands of daily essentials such as paper towels, shampoo, books, toys and batteries within an hour.
The service, dubbed Prime Now, is available for Amazon's Prime members from 6 a.m. to midnight, seven days a week. All Prime members can place orders through the Prime Now app on iOS and Android devices. One-hour delivery costs $7.99 per order, but a more flexible two-hour delivery is available for free.
Amazon said it will use a portion of its new building on 34th Street in Manhattan as a hub for delivery of Prime Now orders.
The Seattle, Washington-based company plans to roll out Prime Now to additional cities next year.
'There are times when you can't make it to the store and other times when you simply don't want to go. There are so many reasons to skip the trip and now Prime members in Manhattan can get the items they need delivered in an hour or less,' said Dave Clark, Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations. 'We've long felt that Amazon Prime is the best deal in the history of shopping and now it has gotten even better.'
Amazon's Prime members, with an annual fee of $99, already enjoy unlimited Free Two-Day Shipping on more than 20 million items across all categories, unlimited streaming of tens of thousands of movies and TV episodes with Prime Instant Video, one million songs and hundreds of playlists with Prime Music, early access to select Lightning Deals and access to more than 600,000 books to borrow with the Kindle Owners' Lending Library.
Amazon launched the new superfast delivery service just days before the Christmas in order to complete with local retailers. On Tuesday, the e-retailer extended holiday shipping deadlines, allowing customers to order with Free Shipping by December 19 and receive items before the Christmas holiday. The company's Prime members can order by December 22 and, for the truly last-minute shoppers, customers in 12 major metro areas can choose from as many as a million eligible items for same-day delivery, order as late as 10:00 a.m. on December 24 and have items delivered before Santa arrives.
Amazon shares are currently trading at $296.36, down $2.52.
Copyright RTT News/dpa-AFX