Amazon drops free delivery pledge

Online giant Amazon has axed free “super-saver” deliveries to the UK on a raft of products, in a move which analysts claim is designed to get customers to sign up to its £49 a year Prime service.
Under the changes, many products costing less than £10 will not qualify for the super-saver status, which waives postage and packaging charges if customers agree to wait up to five business days for delivery.
Customers buying non-qualifying products could now end up paying more for postage and packaging than for the product itself.
Although the new threshold will not apply to books, DVDs, music, video games and software products, Amazon has expanded the number of goods it offers in recent years, and now sells clothes, groceries and health and beauty products, among many others.
Last month, Amazon pulled the plug on the scheme in number of other countries, including Italy, Spain, Greece, and Norway. The firm, which brings in£3bn a year in UK sales, claimed the move would affect only a very small proportion of orders, but one analyst said it could still be “damaging”.
Neil Saunders, an analyst at retail specialist Conlumino, told the BBC: “This is potentially damaging for Amazon as there is likely to be resistance to this change from some customers, particularly those infrequent shoppers who don’t mind waiting a bit longer for their goods to arrive.”
Multiple orders worth less than £10 could still be delivered free if they include a qualifying product, such as a book or DVD, Amazon maintained.
Analysts also speculate the change may be designed to promote the Amazon Prime delivery service, which costs £49 a year for one-day delivery on an unlimited number of orders. Late last year the company got into bother with the Advertising Standards Authority after claiming the service offered “free” delivery.
“The more customers who use Prime the better for Amazon as it helps retention and loyalty figures, but occasional shoppers are unlikely to switch as it is quite expensive,” said Saunders.

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