The world’s largest online retailer, Amazon, introduced its ‘Prime Now’ service back in December, 2014, although it was initially restricted to only New York City. Eventually, the company rolled out the service to 20 more cities in the U.S. and also internationally, to London, England. Amazon charges an $8 fee for one-hour deliveries in the U.S. although two-hour deliveries are free for Amazon Prime members, who pay $99 per year. Prime Now gained popularity fairly quickly ever since its launch, although currently, it can only be accessed via a smartphone app, and not through the retailer’s main website. However, that’s about to change soon if a recent report from Bloomberg News is anything to go by.
According to the report published on Saturday, the Seattle, Washington-based internet giant has plans to integrate the service into its website by next month. Once the plan is put into practice, membership to Amazon’s Prime Now fast delivery facility is expected to grow exponentially, as it will make the service available to a larger audience who’re still not sold on the idea of shopping via mobile devices, which typically come with screens that are a fraction the size of regular desktop or even laptop computers. It is, however, worth noting that shopping on mobile devices is already fairly huge in the US, with research firm, EMarketer, reportedly claiming that the number is expected to hit $96.2 billion this year alone. Even then, about three times as much is believed to be spend by those doing their shopping via traditional computers, which of course, is to be expected.
Meanwhile, the report also claims that Amazon is approaching its brand partners to buy advertising space on its website as part of its “Launch Hero Package” that would cost around $500,000 to be placed front and center on the specially-created webpages that Amazon plans on setting up for purpose of the Prime Now rollout. The strategy can be compared to that of physical supermarket chains charging brands a premium for more visibility within their stores. Amazon is playing its cards close to its chest and the company’s official spokesperson refused to comment on the issue when contacted by the media.