In 2014, Amazon started its Prime Now service in the USA, since 2016 the fast delivery option – for a limited offer – is also available in Germany. In Berlin and the Munich area, Amazon Prime customers can have a few thousand items sent to them from areas such as fresh food, beverages, electronics, drugstores or books within an hour or in a freely chosen two-hour window. That changes now – at least partially.
Fast delivery options now at Amazon directly
As announced by Amazon, the Prime Now app and the associated website are to be closed worldwide by the end of 2021. In India, Singapore and Japan, Amazon has already discontinued Prime Now in its current form. But that doesn’t mean the end of the fast delivery options. Instead, the e-commerce group integrates this into its standard Amazon app or the normal platform. Depending on the location and products – such as fresh deliveries – Amazon users can then continue to book a delivery within one or two hours.
According to Amazon, the group wants to make the shopping experience that has been used by Prime Now more seamless. Prime Now has become a favorite with customers and attracts millions of Prime subscribers with ultra-fast delivery of various products. In the US, where Amazon has already integrated the fast delivery options from Fresh and Whole Foods Market into the platform, customer feedback has been overwhelming, writes Amazon Vice President Stephenie Landry, who is responsible for the grocery store. Now they want to offer this worldwide.
Was there insufficient demand for Prime Now?
Whether Amazon actually takes the step solely because of the user experience, however, may be doubted. There are no concrete figures on the use of the Prime Now service, but there was a small glimpse into the business two years ago when Rossmann ended his collaboration with Prime Now. At that time Rossmann explained to the Süddeutsche Zeitung that “our customers do not ask for this special type of ultra-fast delivery after ordering”.
