Why Is Amazon Expediting Delivery to Rural Markets?

Amazon plans to expand its same-day and next-day Prime delivery service to over 4,000 smaller cities and rural regions in the U.S. by the end of 2025.

The expansion will allow Amazon to reach “tens of millions” more U.S. customers, with Amazon particularly highlighting the capacity to deliver “everyday essentials,” including groceries and household goods, “within hours” to rural households.

Amazon said, “This expansion goes beyond speed — it's about transforming daily life for rural customers, who typically live farther from brick-and-mortar retailers, have fewer product and brand choices, and face limited delivery options when shopping online.”

Amazon referred to these everyday items as “speed-critical” for delivery while noting that it has started offering a larger selection of such staples for same-day delivery to enable consumers to quickly stock up without needing to make an extra trip to the store. Amazon said, “No one wants to wait two days to receive paper towels, diapers, or dog food when they’ve run out.”

The world’s largest e-commerce company in April announced plans to spend over $4 billion by the end of 2026 to triple the size of its rural delivery network.

The rural push comes as Amazon’s delivery speed hit record levels in 2023 and 2024, and the number of items Amazon delivered the same or the next day in the U.S. increased over 30% so far this year compared to the same period last year. Amazon said the quicker delivery times led to groceries and household essentials growing more than twice as fast in the first quarter as all other categories in the U.S.

With Prime, members have access to unlimited free same-day delivery when spending over $25 at checkout.

The same-day delivery investment comes as third-party delivery platforms such as Instacart, DoorDash, and Uber Eats continue to partner with grocers and other retailers to support delivery within hours — for a fee.

Earlier this year, Walmart set a goal to be able to deliver to 95% of Americans within three hours by the end of the year. The discounter, according to Bloomberg, also recently began testing dark stores to speed online delivery.

“The battle for the rural last mile in America is intensifying,” Morgan Stanley analysts said in a note obtained by Investopedia. "As Kong (WMT) fights Godzilla (AMZN) in the battle for retail and eCommerce supremacy, the favored weapon of choice has often been delivery/logistics."

Surveys show that consumers are often more interested in cheap or free over speedy delivery. A McKinsey survey of more than 1,000 U.S. consumers earlier this year found more than 80% will still buy an item when delivery takes four to seven days — as long as that delivery is free.