Photo: Amazon
Daphne Howland
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an excerpt of an article from Retail Dive, an e-newsletter and website providing a 60-second bird’s eye view of the latest retail news and trends.
Amazon.com last week announced a new free "Instant Pickup" service for Prime and Prime Student members, who can order from a selection of daily essentials for pickup in two minutes or less. As usual, returns are free.
The service is now available at five of Amazon’s fully-staffed pickup locations in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Berkeley, CA, Columbus, OH, and College Park, MD, and that will expand in coming months. Amazon operates 22 staffed pickup locations on or near college campuses nationwide. Items available for Instant Pickup include snacks, drinks and electronics, including some of Amazon’s most popular tech devices.
“As shopping behaviors continue to evolve, customers consistently tell us that they want items even faster,” said Ripley MacDonald, director, student programs, Amazon, in a statement. “Whether it’s a snack on-the-go, replacing a lost phone charger in the middle of a hectic day or adding Alexa to your life with an Echo, Instant Pickup saves Prime members time.”
Instant Pickup appears to be the next step on a continuum of fast delivery from the e-retailer — starting with free two-day delivery for Prime members and expanding in recent years to next day and same-day delivery — but two-minute pickup is another ballgame.
"While fast delivery has been at their core for a long time, the combination of speed and pickup is a different model than two-hour delivery, or pickup from a locker," according to Luke Starbuck, VP of marketing at customer care automation firm Linc. He suggested in an e-mail that the retail giant may be eyeing a convenience store chain for acquisition to exploit the full opportunity.
Amazon’s Instant Pickup offering will require tight control of inventory, which can be especially difficult for food items, according to Tushar Patel, CMO of omnichannel solutions platform Kibo. He added, "Snacks and beverages are also items that tend to be more impulse purchases. It's unclear how much foresight consumers will have to get on their phones to order these items first, rather than walking into a store to select an item and walk to the checkout."