Amazon shortens delivery time again — this time to minutes

Online giant Amazon continues to shorten delivery time with a new service that puts goods in shoppers’ hands within minutes of placing their order.



Amazon on Tuesday introduced Instant Pickup, a free service for Prime and Prime Student members that offers a curated selection of daily essentials available for pickup in two minutes or less. The service launched at five of Amazon’s fully staffed pickup locations in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Berkeley, Calif., Columbus, Ohio, and College Park, Md., and will be rolled out to more locations in the coming months. Amazon currently operates a total of 22 staffed pickup locations on or near college campuses across the country.



The merchandise available with Instant Pickup include snacks, beverages, personal care items, phone chargers and other tech essentials. It also features such Amazon’s devices as the Echo and a selection of Fire tablets and Kindle readers.



“As shopping behaviors continue to evolve, customers consistently tell us that they want items even faster," said Ripley MacDonald, director, student programs, Amazon. "While Instant Pickup is available at select pickup locations today, we’re excited about bringing this experience to more customers soon.”



With Instant Pickup, Prime and Prime student members use the Amazon app to shop hundreds of items. Shoppers can browse the selection, place an order, and pick it up from a self-service locker – all within two minutes or less, Amazon said.




Some industry experts commented that with its new pickup program, Amazon is moving into a retail market long dominated by convenience stores.



"As 7-Eleven execs recover from the Amazon-cart that just knocked them off their feet, a close look at the positioning of this new offering shows a bold move into a new shopping space for Amazon,” said Luke Starbuck, VP of marketing, Linc. "While fast delivery has been at their core for a long time, the combination of speed and pickup is a different model than two-hour delivery, or pickup from a locker. Effectively, this new combination places convenience stores squarely in the cross-hairs, although Amazon has a lot of ground to make up before they have the store distribution. It raises the question of whether they are eyeing existing convenience brands as potential acquisitions."