Lightning fast deliveries
Have you ever been stuck at home with the flu and no groceries? Or caught without a gift before a birthday party? If you answered yes, you will love Amazon Prime Now! The app is not without its flaws, but it does guarantee the delivery of groceries, Amazon products, and more to your doorstep – within under 2 hours. Even in the days of UberEats, Deliveroo, and ultra-fast DHL, these promised delivery slots are excellent.
Amazon Prime Now also allows you to track your packages. See it leave the warehouse and watch the progress of the driver towards you. This prevents you from being house-bound, as you wait for your items. Amazon Prime Now offers “free delivery” but a tip is included which may surprise you at checkout. Remember, the app is still biased towards urban areas. If you live in the boonies, then your choices may be limited and delivery in under an hour is unlikely.
The exclusive courier service for Amazon Prime members
Track your packages in real-time.
If you are already an Amazon Prime member, you should check out the Prime Now app. Amazon Prime is a virtual hub with free deliveries, music, film, e-books, and more. In 2014 the delivery giants launched Amazon Prime Now, an exclusive courier service for their Prime members. Order over a certain amount of groceries and supplies and your items will be on your doorstep for “free” within 2 hours or for a small fee – within the hour! While there are no delivery costs, there is an obligatory minimum tip that is made at checkout or to the driver in cash. You do have the option of asking for a retrospective refund for bad service. While it is doubtful many people would begrudge a tip to the hardworking Amazon delivery driver carting sacks of groceries to their doorstep, the surreptitious framing of the charge may nonetheless be a negative feature of the app.
The choice available to you will depend on your location. Certain highlights of the Amazon Prime Now service are limited to big cities like New York, Chicago, and the San Francisco Bay Area. Most major cities of the US are served by the app and let you stay at home and receive fresh groceries, wine and spirits, or any household essentials and luxuries with just a few clicks. Neither the prices nor the choice are worth writing home about and you would definitely save money by heading to the grocery store in person. For last-minute purchases, busy households, or pure convenience, the app is priceless.
Choose from three delivery options ranging from a 2-hour window to within just one hour. This latter option may not be available to all Prime customers, depending on where you live. It is not limited to stores either but if you need a quick meal then there are a large number of restaurants and cafés serviced by Amazon Prime Now.
The app definitely needs work, however. For those who have invested across the board in Amazon, you may find it annoying to have separate apps for your Kindle, Amazon, Amazon Prime, and Amazon Prime Now. There is also a lack of synchronicity among the apps so you may have to jump around to check items in your address books in one place and Wishlists in another.
If you are contemplating Amazon Prime Now for amazing money-saving deals – then stop reading now. While there are certainly great discounts offered across the stores available through the app, there are more mark-ups than price slashes. If you factor in the annual Prime membership fee plus the tip included in every Amazon Prime Now delivery, then it may not be a financially sensible choice for your regular stocking up shop.
The app can also be confusing and lead you to order from separate stores where you could make a more straightforward (and green) purchase from just one.
Where can you run this program?
Amazon Prime Now as the name suggests is related to Amazon Prime. It is essentially the ultra-fast courier service available for your online shopping. You will therefore first need to subscribe to Amazon Prime (which offers an enormous variety of multimedia packages and money-saving add-ons). Then the app can be downloaded onto Android or i0S smartphones, iPads, an iPod Touch or there is a desktop version. The latest version: Amazon Prime Now 4.20.2 requires Android 5.0 and up, or iOS 10.0 and later. If you have an Android device, the app will take up 93.79 MB of space or 83.5 MB on an iPhone.
Is there a better alternative?
For deliveries alone, then you could simply order from the store you need supplies from. You may get a better range of products to choose from and more competitive prices. The booming trade of e-commerce does mean that ever more companies are offering same-day shipping and even same-day delivery services. The courier giants of UPS, FedEx and DHL all provide highly secure deliveries for time-sensitive or valuable items. Your goods are protected and ultra-fast delivery is guaranteed – but at a price.
If it is simply a hot meal delivered to your table ,then there are a plethora of efficient and reliable apps: FoodPanda, GrubHub, and Deliveroo to name a few.
As for another global marketplace to compete with Amazon, the only major wholesaler offering same-day deliveries at the moment is Target. Like Amazon Prime Now, you can order clothing, shoes, or even large items of furniture seven days a week.
Our take
There is nothing quite like Amazon Prime. As individual apps go you may be better choosing Spotify for your music or Netflix for your movies. Once you factor in the major savings of free shipping on any Amazon order, the online deals and extras like monthly Kindle books then Amazon Prime membership is a no-brainer.
Once you benefit from all the above. then Amazon Prime Now will grant you access to thousands of products from groceries to restaurant meals or furniture. The app is a great resource to buy last-minute items or enjoy home deliveries on a lazy duvet day, but do bear in mind the potential mark-ups and limited choice.
Should you download it?
If you are already an Amazon Prime member, then the app is completely free and you can enjoy home deliveries at comet speed.
