Amazon is launching its “ultra-fast” delivery service, Amazon Now, in dozens of U.S. cities, bringing household essentials groceries and more to the online shoppers’ door in 30 minutes or less.
The e-commerce giant first unveiled pilot tests of the offering in the U.S. in its hometown of Seattle and Philadelphia in December, before later expanding the service to Atlanta and the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
With the expansion, Amazon will offer the service in cities including Austin, Texas; Denver; Houston; Minneapolis; Oklahoma City; Orlando, Fla.; and Phoenix. The launch would expand the offering to “tens of millions” of U.S. consumers.
The launch follows the company’s recent debut of its one-hour and three-hour delivery services available for more than 90,000 products.
Where Amazon Now is available, customers will see a “30-Minute Delivery” option in the banner on the Amazon app or homepage, and see Amazon Now offers as they search and shop.
Prime members pay a discounted delivery fee of $3.99 per order, while customers without a Prime membership pay $13.99. An additional small order fee of $1.99 for Prime members and $3.99 for customers without a Prime membership applies to orders below $15.
Amazon Now’s selection offers items that are more urgent for customers. Customers can shop by category, including dairy and eggs, fresh produce, bakery, health, baby, pet, personal care, electronics and alcohol where permitted, with the online retailer personalizing product recommendations.
In most available areas, Amazon Now serves customers 24 hours a day.
“Amazon Now is for when you need or want the convenience of getting your Amazon order delivered in 30 minutes or less,” said Udit Madan, senior vice president of Amazon Worldwide Operations. “With thousands of items available for ultra-fast delivery, you can get everything from groceries for dinner, to AirPods before a flight, to household essentials like laundry detergent or toothpaste delivered right to your door.”
When the pilot in Seattle and Philadelphia first debuted, Amazon said it was fulfilling the orders from smaller specialized facilities strategically placed close to where customers in those cities live and work. The mini warehouses devoted to Amazon Now are roughly 5,000 square feet to 10,000 square feet and use advanced inventory systems that optimize product placement based on local demand.
The approach was aimed at prioritizing employee safety during the picking and packing of orders and was designed to reduce the distance delivery partners need to travel, enabling faster delivery times. Unlike its larger fulfillment centers built to cover ground across major regions in the U.S., the hubs that serve Now customers will not include robotics solutions.
Amazon’s expansion comes as its chief competitors continue to fortify their own same-day delivery ambitions. Walmart CEO John Furner said in February that the retail giant is averaging under an hour on Express Delivery orders, with “a large number” arriving in less than 30 minutes with the help of its vast store network. And Target is implementing a new test of its own in which Shipt drivers can work more delivery routes directly from stores.
Amazon’s deployments in the U.S. follow implementations of the service in India, the U.A.E. and Mexico last year, before launching in Brazil, Japan and the U.K. in 2026.
India was the first market where Amazon launched the service, with the company expecting to scale the delivery capabilities to 1,000 micro-fulfillment centers across 100 cities. The expansion will also enable more than 16,000 farmers to take their produce directly to customers through sellers on the online marketplace.
Amazon Now orders in the south Asian country are increasing 25 percent month-over-month, CEO Andy Jassy said in his annual shareholder letter in April.
According to Jassy, Prime members triple their shopping frequency once they start using it.
Amazon has previously attempted to launch and scale certain “ultra-fast” delivery services in the past, but they fizzled out. The company’s first attempt at two-hour delivery, the standalone Prime Now app, was shut down in 2021 and folded into the main Amazon app. Amazon Today, which used Flex drivers to pick up orders from malls and retailers, was discontinued in late 2024 after drivers often left stores with just one or two items.
