Amazon Eases Off Eleventh Hour Shopping With Exciting Offers

Amazon.com Inc.’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) deadline for free shipping was extended to Dec 16. Customers now have the option to choose from more than one hundred million items, eligible for free shipping, and receive their orders prior to Christmas. This includes eligible orders of $25 or more shipped by Amazon as well as free shipping offers from the millions of small businesses and entrepreneurs selling on Amazon.

In the previous week, Amazon had expanded Prime Free Same-Day Delivery and Prime Free One-Day Shipping options for prime members across more than 8,000 cities and towns. Moreover, it announced that the prime members spread in more than 30 cities of the United States will get an ultra-fast delivery of varied items in bulk, thereby reflecting the company’s efforts to grow its business this holiday season.

Shares of Amazon have soared 57.2% year to date, underperforming its industry’s 60.2% surge.

Amazon Books and Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) Fueling Holiday Season Sales

In cities like Seattle, Bellevue (WA), New York City, Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, Walnut Creek, Chicago, Boston (Dedham and Lynnfield), Portland and Paramus (NJ), Amazon wooed customers with the option to purchase last-minute gifts from the stores of Amazon Books. Also, the company is easing off last-minute shopping hassles by offering clients with a variety of gifts in Whole Foods Market.

Amazon Key, Lockers and Pickup Locations Complementing Sales

Amazon Key is providing its prime members of 37 cities and the surrounding US areas with the convenience of receiving deliveries. Packages are safely delivered at consumer homes despite the receiver’s absence. Amazon Locker is another way to receive deliveries, available in more than 50 cities across the United States.The lockers are strategically located for customers for them to pick up the packages at their convenience.

Additionally, customers have an attractive option of Amazon pickup at their disposal. Pickup locations widely available in 33 cities across the United States provide suitable pickup options to customers and also cater to the prime members free same-day and free one-day pickups on purchase of millions of items.

All aforementioned services are on offer to make the customers’ shopping a delight and help the company boost its top line this holiday season.

Per Daniel Ives of GBH Insights, prime customers are estimated to spend 20-25% more this season than last year. Product selection, a superior user experience, bargains and customer feedback have aided the company to build a strong position in the fast-growing e-commerce market. eMarketer expects retail e-commerce sales to reach $2.290 trillion in 2017, accounting for a 10.1% of total retail sales. This is again expected to surpass 16% by 2021 when e-commerce sales are estimated to touch $4.479 trillion.

Growth of the e-commerce industry with increase in online transaction bodes well for the company. Taking this into consideration and also the opportunities in the international markets, the company’s high-growth rates are likely to be sustained over the next few years.

Zacks Rank & Key Picks

Amazon has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Groupon (NASDAQ:GRPN) , PetMed Express (NASDAQ:PETS) and Alibaba (NYSE:BABA) are three better-ranked stocks in the same industry. While Groupon and PetMed sport a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Alibaba carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth rates for Groupon, PetMed and Alibaba are pegged at 7%, 10% and 30.7%, respectively.

Wall Street’s Next Amazon

Zacks EVP Kevin Matras believes this familiar stock has only just begun its climb to become one of the greatest investments of all time. It’s a once-in-a-generation opportunity to invest in pure genius.

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