Amazon's 1-Hour Delivery Service Prime Now in Manhattan - Analyst Blog

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN) unveiled the One-Hour Delivery service in Manhattan only for Prime members.

Amazon Prime Now

The super-quick service — Amazon Prime Now — is the e-Commerce giant's latest endeavor to take on brick-and-mortar retailers. The company will use bike messengers to deliver goods to its Prime members in select areas of Manhattan. The service will be rolled out to more U.S. cities in 2015.

The online retail giant will charge $7.99 for the goods delivered under this service, while the two-hour delivery remains free. The service will be available throughout week from 6:00 am to midnight. More than 25,000 products, including paper towels, shampoo, books, toys and batteries are included in this program.

To avail the service, Prime members in Manhattan simply need to place the order through the Prime Now app, which is available on both Apple (AAPL) iOS and Android devices.

As reported by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon had been experimenting with bike messengers for at least a few weeks from a building in midtown Manhattan.

Amazon's Extreme Delivery Options

Amazon is trying to quicken the delivery process and, in this regard, has been experimenting with drones and taxis to bikes.

In November, the online giant reportedly tested package delivery by licensed cabs in San Francisco and Los Angeles via the taxi-hailing mobile app Flywheel.

Last year, Amazon announced its plans to use aerial delivery drones as part of the Prime Air service. In July this year, Amazon asked the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for permission to test drones in outdoor areas near Seattle. The approval, however, has not yet been granted.

According to latest reports, Amazon plans to shift more of its drone testing outside the U.S. borders unless it gets quick permission from the U.S. regulators.

Amazon currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Better-ranked stocks in this industry include Geeknet, Inc. (GKNT) and Mercadolibre, Inc. (MELI). Both the stocks carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).