The robots at Amazon.com have apparently been quite busy this week. Amazon says more than 10 million new members worldwide tried its Prime subscription service for the first time during the current holiday season. Amazon Prime users get unlimited free two-day shipping for $99 a year. They can access books, songs, movies, TV episodes and upload unlimited photos on Amazons Cloud Drive. The company, which is looking to offer same-day delivery on all items sold by third-party merchants on its site, said customers ordered more than 10 times as many items using this option in the holiday season, compared with a year earlier. Amazon also said nearly 60 percent of its customers shopped via a mobile device this holiday, and total holiday sales through its smartphone app doubled this year.
Apparently, a few of Amazon shoppers were procrastinators. The last Prime one-day shipping order on Amazon.com delivered in time for Christmas was placed on Dec. 23 at 2:55 p.m. EST and shipped to Philadelphia. The order: a 24-ounce spray of Nature’s Miracle No More Marking and a men’s Champion Evo Fleece Full Zip Hoodie.
As for Amazon’s new Prime Now service, which recently debuted in parts of Manhattan, someone who lives in the one-hour delivery area ordered three 12-packs of Bai5 antioxidant drinks at 10:24 p.m. on Christmas Eve and received it at 11:06 p.m. No word yet on whether that was a gift or for personal use.
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