Amazon is reportedly investing in ultra-fast delivery, which could come with fees, as it also tries to cut expenses, according to a Wall Street Journal report.
The report also noted that Amazon is continuing to allocate resources to facilities and services designed to deliver packages to customers in less than a day.
A critical part of Amazon’s ultra-fast delivery strategy is its network of warehouses, dubbed same-day sites, which are a fraction of the size of its large fulfillment warehouses and are designed to prepare products for immediate delivery, the report said.
Unlike Amazon's large warehouses, these smaller warehouses typically rely on delivery stations closer to customers for the final stage of shipping.
Amazon has opened about 45 of the smaller sites since 2019 and could expand to at least 150 centers in the next several years, the report said, citing MWPVL International, which tracks Amazon warehouse operations.
The sites are mainly open near large cities and deliver the most popular 100,000 items in Amazon’s catalog, the report said, again citing MWPVL. Recently opened sites include Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix.
Amazon's latest move comes as rivals Walmart and Instacart also provide quick shipping options to customers. The report pointed out that Walmart has used its thousands of stores to help fulfill fast online orders.