With just over 10 days until Christmas, Amazon made the stunning announcement that they have increased the amount of cities where one-day and same-day shipping is available for Prime members. This is obviously just in time for shoppers who might be looking for last-minute gifts, or will be in a week or so. The original number of cities where this service was available to Prime members was 5,000, but now it’s 8,000. This move is definitely calculated to bring in more Prime shoppers who are looking to get their gifts quickly and at the last minute. However, it could easily have the added effect of encouraging more regular Amazon customers to sign up for Prime in order to get the new fast shipping.

1. Amazon expands same-day
delivery to more cities
With just over 10 days until Christmas, Amazon made the stunning
announcement that they have increased the amount of cities where one-
day and same-day shipping is available for Prime members. This is
obviously just in time for shoppers who might be looking for last-minute
gifts, or will be in a week or so. The original number of cities where this
service was available to Prime members was 5,000, but now it’s 8,000.
This move is definitely calculated to bring in more Prime shoppers who
are looking to get their gifts quickly and at the last minute. However, it
could easily have the added effect of encouraging more regular Amazon
customers to sign up for Prime in order to get the new fast shipping.
The expansion of this service isn’t just limited to major metropolitan
areas, but plenty of outlying areas as well. Some of the states focused on
include Washington, Virginia, Texas, Maryland, Nevada, New York,
Arizona, California, Florida and several more. The move also gives
Amazon a distinct revenue advantage over other online shopping sites
who tend to lose sales as Christmas draws closer due primarily to

2. shipping times and costs. Amazon can now position itself to take
advantage of those last-minute shoppers who would generally head out
to brick and mortar shops in the last few days before the holiday.
Amazon same-day has already been adding to areas served in the last
year. For example, last spring it came to 27 metropolitan areas, which
only included about 1,000 towns and cities. The vice president of
Amazon Prime released a statement saying that the company was
constantly investing in increasing the service and selection for Prime
customers. They seek to make delivery easier and faster. In 2016, for
example, the last same-day delivery order through Prime delivered
before Christmas was ordered on Christmas Eve at 10:23 AM. It was
delivered at 2:42 PM the same day. The service was free for a Prime
customer located in Richmond, Virginia.
Fast delivery is one of Prime’s top selling points, if not its biggest selling
point. Other retailers looking to compete include Walmart, which rolled
out its own free two-day shipping service without requiring a
membership. Walmart is one of Amazon’s biggest competitors so
naturally Amazon needed to respond, and it did by increasing the
availability of one-day and same-day shipping to more of its customers
around the country.
In order to identify the products available for same-day or one-day,
Prime members should look for icons that indicate this on the product
page or product list. They can also filter search results to only show one-
day and same-day items. Orders totaling over $35 that include eligible
items will then ship for free any day of the week for Prime members.
Non-members will pay $8.99 for the same-day service and then an
additional $0.99 per product in the order. In order to get same-day
service, orders should be placed in the morning for arrival between six
and nine in the evening. Orders placed later in the day will then arrive
the following day.
For further convenience, Amazon also released a helpful schedule
showing cut off dates for shipping. December 18 is the cut off for
standard shipping, December 22 is the cut off for two-day shipping and
December 23 is the cut off for one-day shipping. Christmas Eve is the
final day for same-day delivery with an order time of before 9:30 AM.

3. Amazon has been rolling out new delivery methods all year, including
using Amazon Lockers, Whole Foods stores and customers allowing
delivery people into their house with the Amazon Key service.
YORKVILLE ADVISORS. global alternative investment manager
providing specialty financing solutions.