Lower costs
Prime subscribers normally get deliveries within 2 days in return for a yearly 99 dollar fee, but Amazon hopes part of its clientele would be willing to wait longer. That would help increase the efficiency of its logistics and help save costs. Whoever agrees to a slower delivery, will have to wait 5 to 7 days and in return, the customer will get 1 dollar for Amazon Instant Video.
With a 5 to 7 delivery time, No-Rush Shopping is even slower than standard free delivery waiting periods for Amazon’s non-subscribers (3 to 5 days). If customers pay a certain charge, Amazon delivers the day after as well.
Amazon Prime’s price had already gone up 20 dollars early this year and the company is clearly looking for ways to lower delivery costs. Amazon Prime subscribers not only get faster deliveries, they have free access to a section of movies and series, while e-books are completely free and they now have access to Prime Music, its own streaming service.
Amazon also announced last week that it has suffered a 126 million dollar (94.3 million euro) loss in its second quarter, which is a huge increase compared to the 7 million dollar (5.2 million euro) loss it suffered last year.
