Amazon Now Rebranded as Prime Now in India, Prime Members Now Get 2-Hour Ultra-Fast Deliveries

Amazon India on Tuesday announced the rebranding of its grocery offering Amazon Now to Prime Now as it looks to offer more benefits to Prime members. With Prime Now, Amazon will provide exclusive Express 2-hour delivery to Prime members anytime between 6am to 12am (midnight). Also, same-day and next-day delivery will remain available for all customers, in 2-hour slots from 6am to 12am (midnight). Notably, Prime Now, an app-only service, is now available to customers in Bengaluru, Hyderabad, Mumbai, and New Delhi. Notably, the company had announced Prime Now in the US back in February this year.

Prime Now has a selection of over 10,000 products now, including fruits and vegetables, grocery, staples, meats, as well as home & kitchen items, fulfilled by Amazon through the Now Store, and by supermarkets such as Big Bazaar, Aditya Birla More, and local speciality sellers like Licious and Pescafresh. The Now Store also offers a range of over 150 perishable grocery items, Amazon noted in a press release.

Amazon India has also introduced new categories such as Home & Kitchen, where customers can purchase 'bestselling items' from a host of categories including electronics accessories, Home and Kitchen, and more. Additionally, customers can enjoy other deals on grocery products with up to 30 percent discount. Also, Amazon Pay will run regular promotional offers for app users.

To meet the delivery on-time, Amazon India has 15 fulfilment centres equipped with temperature-controlled zones, the company said. The Fulfilment centres also store kitchen appliances, beauty products, and household supplies available on Prime Now. Notably, customers in eligible cities can experience the Prime Now offering by downloading the app from the Apple App Store or the Google Play Store and sign in with their Amazon account.

Sameer Khetarpal, Director, Category Management (Grocery), Amazon India, said, "We are excited about scaling up our grocery experience with a significantly expanded selection and new delivery services with Prime Now, an Ultrafast App, for 'delivery in hours'." Meanwhile, Siddharth Nambiar, Head of Prime Now, Amazon India said, "On Prime Now customers can shop for products from our Now store which is fulfilled by Amazon. We have invested in customised infrastructure of fulfilment centers (FC) for faster deliveries and chill chains to maintain temperatures at optimum conditions for leafy products and dairy products like curd and paneer. We are encouraged by the strong customer response and quantities ordered have grown by 90% monthly since the launch of the Now store."