Dive Brief:
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Amazon is expanding its Prime benefits and its services to other retailers with same-day delivery for customers of PacSun, GNC, SuperDry and Diesel, the e-commerce giant announced on Monday. Sur La Table and 100% Pure will be added in the coming months.
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The service is available in select zip codes in more than 10 metro areas, including Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas, Las Vegas, Miami, Phoenix and Seattle, as well as Scottsdale, Arizona and Washington, D.C., and that will also expand in coming months, according to a company blog post.
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Expanding Amazon’s same-day delivery service to include other brands is a way to offer Amazon customers “greater selection, at faster speeds," Sarah Mathew, director of Amazon Delivery Experience, said in a statement. Its recent tie-up with GrubHub is a further indication of the company’s interest in speedy, last-mile delivery.
Dive Insight:
Amazon may have stopped running nearly all of its own specialty or mall-based stores, but it appears to see potential in stores run by other retailers. Earlier this year the company closed all of its bookstores, 4-Star stores and pop-ups, leaving only its grocery stores, convenience stores and an apparel store.
The option is limited to select items and is free to Prime members as long as they spend at least $25; for orders below $25 the service costs $2.99. Some stores will also offer in-store pickup, Amazon said.
Monday’s agreement with PacSun, GNC and others is also the latest example of Amazon’s evolution into less of a retailer and more of a provider of services, including cloud computing, fulfillment and other logistics, and advertising. In its most recent quarter, Amazon saw revenue growth in those areas, while its online retail sales fell for the second straight quarter.
Amazon has previously partnered with other retailers’ brick-and-mortar stores. For a few years now, for example, Kohl’s has taken Amazon returns at all of its brick-and-mortar stores, which the department store has said helps drive footfall.
Brands have taken different approaches to partnering with Amazon, with some avoiding it in order to maintain control of their own marketing, data and merchandising, and others seeing it as a way to connect with Amazon’s vast customer base. For PacSun, which already runs an online Amazon storefront, the new Prime delivery option “is one more way for us to offer our customers the styles they want and love, when they want them,” Mimi Ruiz, PacSun vice president of e-commerce, said in a statement.
