Amazon to the Rescue of Xmas Procrastinators - Analyst Blog

The world's largest online retailer, Amazon.com (AMZN) is extending its free shipping deadline for Christmas Eve to Friday, Dec 19. Last year, Amazon's cut-off date was Dec 17.

Customers who place their orders as late as 11:59 p.m. ET on Dec. 19 will be eligible for the free shipping offer.

Earlier this year, Amazon had increased its fee on its Prime membership to $99 a year for consumers and $49 a year for students. But Prime members have no reason to complain. This Christmas, Prime members are eligible to get free two-day shipping on orders placed as late as Dec. 22.

This is not all, for orders placed on Dec. 23; Prime members will only have to shell out $2.99 per item to have them on their doorsteps by Dec 24.

Amazon is not done playing Santa to the procrastinators yet! Amazon is also offering same-day delivery on Christmas Eve in 12 of its key markets — including Atlanta, Los Angeles, New York City, San Francisco and Seattle — at a charge of $5.99 per item on orders completed by 10 a.m. local time.

Along with speedy and no-cost shipping on more than 20 million items, when users give the gift of Prime, they are also providing a year's worth of entertainment.  Amazon will send the gift recipient an email on the day chosen by the person who is giving the gift. This will include redemption instructions.

The gift recipient will be entitled to use their Prime membership immediately. If the recipient is an existing Prime member, the gift can be swapped for an Amazon.com Gift Card. The one-year gift membership, however, does not renew automatically.

Amazon had offered such an extension last year also. Prime members last year, could place orders till midnight on Dec 22 to receive same-day deliveries on Dec 24 in some cities for a fee. However, Amazon was not able to get the gifts delivered on time. It refunded shipping charges and handed out gift cards to the affected customers.

This time around, Amazon looks set to get the gifts delivered on time.

All we can say is, Joy to the procrastinators! Amazon has come!

Amazon currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in this industry include Geeknet, Inc. (GKNT), Mercadolibre, Inc. (MELI) and Overstock.com Solutions, Inc. (OSTK). All of them carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

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