Amazon boasted it will be able to deliver millions of items with fast and free delivery through Christmas Eve, giving Santa’s reindeer a run for their money.
The company issued a press release detailing the dates Prime customers can order items and still arrive in time for Christmas – “Amazon Prime Members Can Shop Millions of Items with Fast and Free Delivery Until Christmas Eve.”
Today’s announcement, published exactly 2 weeks before Christmas Day, shows Amazon is reassuring current Prime members and is also encouraging non-Prime members to sign up. Highlights of the press release include the following:
- Amazon Offers Last-Minute Shoppers More than 10 Million Items Available for Prime Free One-Day Delivery with No Minimum Purchase
- Prime Members in Eligible Cities Can Shop for Items on Christmas Eve and Receive them the Same Day with Prime Free Same-Day Delivery
- Not a Prime Member? All Customers in the U.S. Can Shop Hundreds of Millions of Items through December 14 with Delivery in Time for Christmas
It also published the following guide:
HOLIDAY CHEAT SHEET: For free delivery before Christmas, the following dates apply*
Dec. 14: Last day to order and get free delivery on orders over $25, free for all customers
Dec. 18: Last day to order items eligible for Standard Shipping, free for Prime members
Dec. 22: Last day to order tens of millions of items, free for Prime members
Dec. 23: Last day to order more than 10 million items eligible for One-Day Delivery (coast to coast, free for Prime members with no minimum purchase)
Dec. 24: Last day to order millions of items eligible for Same-Day Delivery (free for Prime members in eligible areas on orders over $35, order by 9:30 a.m. local time)
Dec. 24: Last chance for free two-hour grocery delivery, reserved exclusively for Prime members in select cities. Order by 5 p.m. local time (3 p.m. in select locations) for Whole Foods Market and 8 p.m. local time for Amazon Fresh
Dec. 24: Whole Foods Market stores, Amazon Books, and Amazon 4-star stores are open Christmas Eve (store hours vary by location)
Dec. 25: Give the gift that keeps on giving with online purchases of Amazon Gift Cards and Amazon Prime
*Not all delivery speeds are available for all products in all regions, and order minimums and cutoff times may apply. Most items ordered during the holiday season can be returned until Jan. 31, 2020.
Amazon also plugged some of its other offerings that holiday shoppers might find appealing, such as grocery deliveries; package-pickup options; its retail stores; and gift cards.
Amazon also touted easy returns, though interestingly it did not mention Kohl’s brick-and-mortar stores where customers can return Amazon items:
“Returns Made Easy. Customers can buy gifts with confidence on Amazon, knowing that millions of items are eligible for free returns at over 18,000 locations in the U.S. and the return window has been extended until January 31 for items purchased between November 1 and December 31. In addition, over 5,800 locations – including Amazon Books, Amazon 4-star, and select Whole Foods Market locations – offer Label Free, Box Free returns, making it easier than ever to check returns off your list.”
The biggest section, though, was devoted to detailing the benefits of the Amazon Prime free-shipping program. You can view the full release on the AboutAmazon.com press site.
And Ebay is still trying to play catch up from last year.
I’m not sure how Amazon hopes to achieve this. My last Prime order ended up not coming on the weekend but on Monday. Today I checked an order from eCrater. In less that two days it got from my home to Louisville, KY. However, unless I am really forgetting my geography and the size of the state, it isn’t slated to by delivered until some time Friday. Normally it would be delivered on Thursday. My carrier when she did her pick-up and delivery looked absolutely exhausted and swamped already.