(Almost) Everybody Gets Free Delivery at Amazon!

A few weeks ago we looked at how customer shipping methods shed light on Amazon’s approach to the grocery business. Here we look more broadly at Amazon delivery.

Setting aside Amazon Fresh Delivery, Amazon has three principal ways it delivers purchases, or at least charges (or does not charge) for delivery: Amazon Prime Delivery, Free Super Saver Shipping, and good old paid shipping. As it turns out, regardless of Prime membership, most Amazon customers don’t appear to pay anything for their order delivery.

Amazon Prime members represent about three-quarters of all customers, and 65% of purchases are reportedly delivered with free (or included) Prime shipping (Chart 1). With third-party sellers, not every order is eligible for free Prime delivery, and some slower delivery may appear to Prime member customers as “Super Saver”.