Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

Just as Amazon is trying to use 1 hour delivery to compete better against brick-and-mortar companies, Google is trying to help the brick-and-mortar companies compete with Amazon by providing a competing delivery service called "Google Express" (previously called "Google Shopping Express") [1]. It's been mentioned a few times on hn [2,3].

[1] https://www.google.com/shopping/express/

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8037108

[3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8452337

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#5

Post by ovi256 » Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 4:05 PM UTC

jtchang wrote: post #3

I'm pretty sure the logistics of 1 hour delivery can get pretty insane. However what I am really looking forward to is real time delivery anywhere. And how about returns? Can I return stuff in one hour too?

What do you mean by real time delivery ? Instant delivery ? Real time delivery tracking ?

For Amazon Prime users, I could very well see returns piggybacking on deliveries - the delivery courier would simply pick up the return.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#6

Post by shalbert » Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 4:18 PM UTC

How can they get to places within an hour and make a worthwhile margin of profit?

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#7

Post by cshenoy » Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 4:22 PM UTC

shalbert wrote: post #6

How can they get to places within an hour and make a worthwhile margin of profit?

They're charging $7.99 for one-hour delivery. That's about on-par with on-demand courier fees that I've seen in NYC. Presumably the two-hour free delivery will be phased out once they've reached some metric.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#8

Post by mrfusion » Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 4:29 PM UTC

Wouldn't four hours or anything same day be just as good? Why not save some costs there?

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#9

Post by discodave » Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 4:31 PM UTC

cshenoy wrote: post #7

shalbert wrote: post #6

How can they get to places within an hour and make a worthwhile margin of profit?

They're charging $7.99 for one-hour delivery. That's about on-par with on-demand courier fees that I've seen in NYC. Presumably the two-hour free delivery will be phased out once they've reached some metric.

If we assume that a) the 1h delivery is break even for them and 2) the 2h delivery would allow the courier to do a couple of extra deliveries on the same trip, then I think the per item cost for 2h delivery could be only a couple of dollars, making it competitive with UPS and thus maybe free for prime members indefinitely.

Re: Amazon Unveils One-Hour Delivery Service

#10

Post by iTrollFreely » Thu, Dec 18, 2014, 4:43 PM UTC

jtchang wrote: post #3

I'm pretty sure the logistics of 1 hour delivery can get pretty insane. However what I am really looking forward to is real time delivery anywhere. And how about returns? Can I return stuff in one hour too?

i'm just a dozen blocks away and the app is currently telling me i'm outside the delivery area.... i guess the delivery radius is fairly small, in which case 1 hour delivery by bike messenger can't be that bad.