Amazon took its free shipping to the next level on Thursday (Dec. 13), announcing it will offer Prime members free same-day delivery and Prime Now up until Christmas Eve. What’s more, the eCommerce giant said that customers in the U.S. will get free shipping on hundreds of millions of products during the holiday shopping season this year.
In the press release, Amazon also announced it has extended the free-shipping cutoff with no minimum purchase through Dec. 18 for orders that will arrive in time for Christmas. While a majority of Prime members in the U.S. have access to free one-day shipping or faster, Amazon also announced that Prime FREE same-day delivery and Prime FREE one-day shipping expanded this year to more than 10,000 cities and towns around the country. Currently, Prime members in 30 cities have access to delivery in as short as one hour via Prime Now.
“Prime was built on the foundation of unlimited fast, free shipping, and we keep working to add faster and even more convenient delivery options,” said Cem Sibay, vice president of Amazon Prime, in the press release. “In the last year, Prime members around the world ordered more than two billion products with one-day delivery or faster. And today, we announced that Prime members in more than 10,000 cities and towns in the U.S. have access to free one-day shipping or faster. Any customer can sign up or try Prime for free for 30 days to experience the best of shopping and entertainment from Amazon over the holidays.”
Amazon has been stepping up the convenience this holiday shopping season, and its efforts have proven fruitful. For the Black Friday holiday shopping weekend and Cyber Monday, Amazon reported that it broke records with U.S. consumers during the five-day period compared to a year ago. On a worldwide basis, customers ordered more than 18 million toys and more than 13 million fashion items on Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined.