How To Get Faster Delivery On Amazon: Site's New Pickup Feature Unveiled

Amazon is picking up a new competitive edge when it comes to giving customers faster delivery times.

At the Accelerate 2021 conference on Thursday, the company announced a new feature called Local Selling, a service that allows small to medium-sized businesses selling on Amazon to offer in-store pickup or delivery products, according to CNBC. The service is expected to make both options faster than traditional mailing options for shoppers who live closer to the stores they purchase from.

However, the feature could keep users on Amazon’s site rather than going directly to the seller’s site or competitors. It is also on the seller to determine delivery speed and shipping cost, but Amazon clarified that many sellers on their site should be able to provide one-to-two-day local delivery at no extra cost.

For certain items, consumers can purchase an item online and then pick it up in-store the same day. Sellers will use their own transportation methods to deliver the goods. They can also include product assembly and installation as a bundle along with the delivery.

“Sellers are actually using their own infrastructure for delivery, whether that’s specialty equipment, or just their local delivery infrastructure that they have in place today . . . The delivery promise, because it is local, is faster than something that is normally shipped from a seller on a nationwide level,” Pat Bigatel, director of Local Selling, said in an interview.

“Local Selling presents enormous opportunities to a large number of sellers who want to bring more product selection to their Amazon business, enabling many to expand their multichannel offerings by integrating their physical stores and delivery capabilities with their digital operations," said Jim Adkins, Vice President of Recreational and Vocational Categories at Amazon according to a press release.

Adkins continued ". . . Our research shows that many customers will opt for local pickup when given the choice. This new capability is an exciting way to help sellers reach and delight more customers with great products and convenience.”

Throughout the pandemic, there has been a sweeping shift towards online commerce. According to eMarketer, U.S. click-and-collect sales rose year over year to $72.5 billion in 2020 and will continue growing.