Amazon has announced a new service that will allow users in Manhattan to order deliveries of beer, wine and spirits to be delivered within one hour through the Prime Now mobile app.
Delivery within an hour will cost $7.99, however, those who are willing to wait a little longer won’t have to pay anything extra on top of the order for two-hour delivery. Of course, it’s important to note that the service is only available to Prime members who pay $99 per year, so two-hour shipping isn’t totally free.
This isn’t the first time that Amazon began offering quick alcohol deliveries through Prime. The company launched a similar service in Seattle, and it has said that it wants to bring the service to the 20 or so cities in the U.S. that currently have Prime Now delivery.
While Amazon acquired a liquor license for alcohol delivery in Seattle, it did not in New York. Instead, the company says that “delivery service providers, who have all applicable permits, are delivering on behalf of the licensed merchants.”
The market in Manhattan is one that already has a number of liquor stores that offer delivery to surrounding areas. It will be interesting to see whether or not the service can really take off when many customers likely have a service that they prefer to use.
Prime Now is an expensive service for Amazon, however, the company says that it thinks the on-demand nature of it eliminates some of the few remaining advantages of brick-and-mortar stores. The company is working to make product delivery even more convenient by using drones.
[“source-techtimes”]
