Amazon launches day-definite delivery service for business users

Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) said late Monday that it has rolled out a day-definite delivery service to its Business Prime members under which a business customer can designate one recurring day per week to receive all of its deliveries.

The service, called “Amazon Day for Business,” follows the launch several weeks ago of “Amazon Day” for Amazon’s residential customers. Amazon touts the model as a way for customers to better plan their schedules by having their weekly purchases grouped and delivered at one time rather than being spread out over multiple days and truck trips. The model also reduces truck trips and packaging, according to the company.

Amazon’s delivery business is overwhelmingly residential, so its business delivery segment gets scant attention. The Business segment generated about $10 billion in annual sales in 2018 for the Seattle-based e-tailer, a fraction of its $233 billion in overall sales in 2018. The Business service currently operates in eight countries.

As with the more familiar Amazon Prime service, Business Prime members receive unlimited two-day delivery on more than 100 million items on Amazon’s site. Users who purchase the service at tiers above the basic level receive “spend visibility tools” to monitor purchasing patterns, and a “guided buying” feature that the company said creates “policy rules (that) guide employees to approved products and help prevent procurement violations.”