Amazon plans on spreading one-hour delivery service to cities nationwide

Next year, Amazon is planning on rolling out its Prime Now one-hour delivery service in cities nationwide.

As of today, the program is available in parts of Manhattan for members of Amazon Prime, who pay an annual fee of $99 for the shipping perks that come with membership. Amazon has about 25,000 items that are available for one-hour delivery between the hours of 6 a.m. and 12 a.m. Customers pay a fee of $7.99 for delivery within an hour, and two-hour delivery is free. 

"There are times when you can't make it to the store and other times when you simply don't want to go," Amazon's senior vice president of worldwide operations, Dave Clark, said in a press release. "There are so many reasons to skip the trip and now Prime members in Manhattan can get the items they need delivered in an hour or less."

Prime customers can order items for one-hour delivery through an app on their mobile devices. Amazon transports the item via bike messenger from its facility in Midtown, and customers can track the location of the courier through the app. 

E-commerce sites like Amazon, EBay and Google are always working toward faster delivery in an effort to compete with the instant gratification that shoppers can receive from brick-and-mortar stores. However, these models are difficult to maintain financially, so retail experts are somewhat skeptical about the expansion possibilities of services like Amazon Now. 

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