Amazon debuts service guaranteeing Cdns. two-day shipping
We try to stray from gushing about specific companies in this space, but that principle tends to waver considerably when Amazon enters the fold.
I will confess to being a loyal Amazon customer, and when discussing the e-commerce site's merits I always regale eye-rolling friends with the same thrilling tale.
Amazon's wonder in a simple anecdote: one night in the fall of 2010, I caught a late showing of The Social Network, David Fincher's Facebook movie. Like many, I thought it great, and upon arriving home, I decided I wanted to read the Ben Mezrich book the film was based on. So, well after midnight, I placed an order on Amazon. Before 5 p.m. the same day, less than 16 hours after I clicked "place order," the book was on my doorstep.
Granted, my Toronto address makes that story a bit uncommon to much of Canada (Amazon's sole Canadian warehouse at the time was in Mississauga), but a new service being launched by the site will ensure those that want it can have similar prompt delivery for most things sold on Amazon.
To customers, Amazon truly succeeds because of how easy it makes online shopping. All your credit card info is (safely) stored, so you are genuinely just a few clicks from placing an order.
*Bing: See if your postal code makes your eligible for Amazon Prime
The system is so simple, so rewarding to shoppers, it's the same one Mark Cuban urged newspapers to adopt back when online paywalls began testing the waters.
Anyway, quick shipping (and free shipping on orders over $25) is also a major plus, though not everyone, Amazon notes, lives near a major metropolis, and thus near a major warehouse/shipping depot.
So since 2005, Amazon has offered a service called Amazon Prime in the U.S., which charges customers an annual fee to allow them guaranteed two-day shipping on most things sold on Amazon.
Now, it's come to Canada.
Beginning today, Amazon Prime is available to shoppers of Amazon.ca for $79 each year. It will allow shoppers unlimited use of two-day shipping across much of the country. Should you want the option, some parts of Canada will be eligible to pay an extra $3.99 per item for guaranteed one-day shipping, too.
Amazon Prime has been running for a while in the U.S. and six other countries, so what took it so long to arrive in Canada?
Last fall, Amazon added a second fulfillment depot south of Vancouver, so now, in addition to its Mississauga warehouse, the site's better got the country covered.
By Jason Buckland, MSN Money
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