Online shopping giant Amazon has launched its premium Prime delivery service in Australia, offering Aussies fast and free delivery.
But don’t get too excited – Australian customers will still have to wait two days for a package compared to the same-day services offered worldwide.
Already on offer to 100 million Amazon customers across the globe, Prime boasts free same-day or next-day delivery and has been key to Amazon’s meteoric rise.
Although Australian customers in the major cities will have to wait two days for delivery, that could blow out to four days for those in more remote areas.
Previously, Amazon customers had to pay for priority overnight delivery in Australia.
A subscription also gets users access to Amazon’s streaming services: Amazon Prime video, Amazon Prime Reading and the Twitch gaming platform. Amazon’s streaming video on demand service launched in Australia in 2016 and has built itself into one of the largest paid streaming services in the world, just behind Netflix.
Amazon Prime International’s vice president Jamil Ghani said Australian customers would have “access to the widest selection of Prime benefits at launch for any country ever".
"We hope that Australians will love free two business day delivery on products from Amazon Australia and free international delivery on products from Amazon US, all available to customers on Amazon.com.au,” he said in a statement.
"We are really proud to bring Australians the most extensive set of Prime benefits at launch for any country – ever. This is just the beginning for Prime in Australia, as we will keep making Prime better, adding even more selection and benefits."
Prime launched on Tuesday and costs $6.99 for a monthly subscription or $59 a year.
