Amazon.com adds new possibilities for Prime Now

Retailers in urban areas where Amazon.com is rolling out its Prime Now delivery service soon may be able to piggyback on the e-commerce innovator’s supply chain prowess to offer one-hour delivery.

In Manhattan, where Amazon.com launched Prime Now earlier this year, the company has added products from select local merchants to the tens of thousands of items it already promises to deliver within one hour.

Customers in select Manhattan neighborhoods can now purchase groceries, prepared meals and baked goods from D’Agostino, Gourmet Garage and Billy’s Bakery through the Prime Now app with retailers Eataly and Westside Market due to be added to the service.

“Our Prime Now hub in Manhattan is home to tens of thousands of products that are being delivered to customers in an hour or less. Now, we are expanding the service to include delivery from local stores. So whether you’re ordering diapers and a big-screen television from Amazon, fresh produce from D’Agostino, a chef-made prepared meal from Gourmet Garage or cupcakes from Billy’s Bakery, we will get all of the items right to your door in lightning-fast speeds,” said Dave Clark, Amazon’s senior vice president of worldwide operations. “We are launching delivery from local stores through Prime Now in Manhattan today and will add local stores in other cities where we offer Prime Now soon.”

In addition to Manhattan, Prime Now is available in Brooklyn, Atlanta, Austin, Baltimore, Dallas and Miami.

To use the service, Amazon.com customers must be Prime members which requires a $99 annual fee to receive, among other things, free two day shipping. With Prime Now, delivery within a two hour window is free and one-hour delivery costs $7.99.

“We’ve always offered our customers the chance to shop like a chef and get the highest quality food items from our stores. Now we’re bringing our outstanding products right to customers’ doors, available only through Prime Now for ultra-fast delivery,” said Andy Arons, CEO of Gourmet Garage. “Using Prime Now to deliver to customers in one hour is a no-brainer. It enables us to utilize Amazon’s operations expertise and technology to reach our customers fast with a high level of quality and freshness at prices that customers would find in our stores.”