Amazon takes delivery convenience to next level

6 days ago 0 3

Amazon continues to push the boundaries in e-commerce delivery convenience, giving shoppers more reasons to buy goods on its marketplace. The retail behemoth this month added 1,500 FedEx Office locations to its growing network of return drop-off points on the heels of introducing one-hour and three-hour shipping options to many areas of the country. And it acquired RIVR, a Swiss company developing four-legged robots designed to carry out doorstep deliveries.

Amazon’s success in raising consumer expectations for same-day delivery, and now near-instant delivery, may work for Amazon, but has proved costly to other retailers and delivery companies that try to match its services.

Customers can now make free returns on eligible items with no shipping box, tape, or label needed at more than 10,000 drop-off locations across the United States. Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) said four out of five customers now have a drop-off point within five miles of their home, making it easier to complete a return at a convenient location — no label, no box required.

Amazon shoppers can also return orders to Whole Foods Market, The UPS Store, Kohl’s and Staples locations using a QR code generated through their Amazon account. In select Save Mart stores in California and Nevada and Winn-Dixie stores in Florida, customers can take care of an eligible Amazon return as part of their usual grocery run.

“Convenience doesn’t end once you place your order,” said Gopal Pillai, vice president of returns and recommerce at Amazon, in a news release. “We’re constantly working to make returns simpler, and bringing FedEx Office locations into our nationwide network is one more way we’re building a return experience that fits naturally into customers’ everyday lives.”

FedEx last year introduced its own no-box, no-label return service at FedEx Office and Kohl’s locations.

Supersonic delivery

Amazon’s one-and-three hour delivery windows are an expansion of its same-day delivery service. One-hour delivery is now available for 90,000 SKUs in hundreds of cities and towns, including parts of major metropolitan areas like Los Angeles, Chicago, Oklahoma City, Nashville, Houston and Washington, D.C., and smaller cities such as Des Moines, Iowa; Boise, Idaho; and American Fork, Utah. Three-hour delivery is offered in more than 2,000 cities and towns, including suburbs such as Cornwall, Pennsylvania; Harrah, Oklahoma; and Arabi, Louisiana. Amazon said it plans to bring the expedited delivery service to more areas this year.

Prime members pay a $9.99 fee for the one-hour delivery and $4.99 for three-hour delivery. The delivery fee for customers without Prime membership is $19.99 for one-hour delivery and $14.99 for three-hour delivery.

The new fast delivery options represent the next evolution of Amazon’s e-commerce logistics service. Amazon said it was able to implement one-hour and three-hour delivery by revamping its same-day fulfillment process so it could deliver a broad selection of products at faster speeds through its existing infrastructure. Amazon Same-Day Delivery, which launched in 2015, is available to customers in more than 9,000 cities and towns. In addition to establishing regional same-day hubs, Amazon predictive AI inventory placement algorithms have streamlined the picking, sorting and fulfillment process to enable even faster delivery speeds.

Last year, Amazon expanded the geographic reach of same-day and next-day delivery to Prime members in more than 4,000 smaller cities, towns and rural areas across 44 states by bypassing traditional hubs and injecting inventory into rural delivery stations transformed for hybrid functions. The expansion was made possible by a $4 billion investment in the company’s rural delivery network.

Amazon is investing in rural delivery at a time when other carriers are reducing service or increasing rural surcharges because of the high costs associated with service to areas with fewer customers. FedEx and UPS impose remote delivery surcharges of $16.50 and $16.75, respectively. Many regional couriers also have rural surcharges or don’t serve many zip codes.

Amazon, by contrast, has created a flywheel whereby it creates demand with fast delivery, which builds package delivery density, which lowers unit delivery costs, which enables faster delivery, and increases demand, parcel shipping guru Nate Skiver noted in a recent LinkedIn post.

The company said in December that it reached its goal of offering same-day delivery of fresh groceries to 2,300 cities and towns by the end of 2025, more than doubling its previous reach. It also began testing 30-minute delivery in Seattle and Philadelphia utilizing micro-fulfillment centers.

In February, Amazon announced it had delivered more than 13 billion items the same or next day globally, topping fast-delivery totals for a third consecutive year. In the United States, Prime members received more than 8 billion items the same or next day, an increase of over 30% year over year, with groceries and everyday essentials making up half of the total items. Amazon claims U.S. Prime members saved $550 on average for delivery — four times the cost of membership.

Delivery robots

Rivr Technologies Chief Executive Officer and co-founder Marko Bjelonic announced on LinkedIn last week that Amazon has acquired the robotics company to streamline deliveries. The company builds robots for last-mile delivery that can navigate city streets and climb stairs.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos previously gave Rivr $22 million in seed funding in 2024. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Last summer, Rivr ran a pilot program with courier Veho to test how its wheeled-legged parcel delivery robots operate in urban environments. The robot rides in the van with the driver and then completes drop-offs on its own while the human driver makes deliveries, thereby reducing repetitive steps. Proponents say the technology will be useful in urban environments with lots of delivery stops, but limited parking, and for making deliveries at night.

Rivr recently introduced a delivery robot that sits down to drop packages from the bottom. By lowering itself and delivering from the bottom, the robot improves accessibility.

Dan Bourgault, co-founder and CEO of parcel courier the FrontDoor Collective, questioned on LinkedIn whether the technology is ready to meet Amazon’s needs, based on previous experience as an Amazon delivery provider and seeing Rivr in the field with Veho.

The Rivr robot could slow down efficient drivers, who can make 25 to 30 stops an hour, and be limited to smaller-size packages, he said. The machines would also take up valuable space in vans, displacing packages and increasing per unit costs.
“It could be a great companion when a driver parks and goes to one building and Rivr handles another, but space and speed are two major hurdles. My guess is the Amazon and Rivr tech team are thinking 3 to 5 years from now,” said Bourgault.

Click here for more FreightWaves/American Shipper stories by Eric Kulisch.

Write to Eric Kulisch at ekulisch@freightwaves.com.