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What it’s like to shop on the new Amazon Prime Now in Singapore (Part 2)

A staff member collects merchandise for customers' orders from shelves at the newly-opened Amazon Prime Now facility in Singapore Thursday, July 27, 2017. Amazon introduced express delivery in Singapore in its first direct effort to win over Southeast Asian digital natives and new internet users. The American e-commerce company announced Thursday it will begin operating a 100,000 square foot (9,290 square meter) distribution facility in the wealthy island nation. (AP Photo/Joseph Nair)
Merchandise at the Amazon Prime Now facility in Singapore. (Photo: AP)

In our previous article, Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore explored the Amazon Prime Now mobile app for the first time and found a wide range of items to shop, from groceries such as fresh fruits and vegetables to electronics such as laptops and DSLR cameras.

Amazon Prime Now is an online shopping app by American e-commerce giant Amazon that was launched on Thursday morning (27 July). The service can only be accessed via mobile app, which can be downloaded on the Apple app store and Google Play store.

While Amazon Prime Now promises free two-hour delivery services every day from 10am to 10pm for purchases above $40, delivery slots are subject to availability. When Yahoo Lifestyle Singapore purchased five items – beers, ice creams, eggs, frozen food – on Thursday at about 11.30am, we were notified that the goods could only be delivered between 10am and 12pm the following day, Friday (28 July).

Here’s what happened when the delivery eventually arrived at the office:

Unfulfilled order

On the day of the delivery, Amazon Prime Now emailed to notify that they will not be able to fulfil the orders completely. Instead of delivering five items, they were only able to deliver four because they didn’t have anymore of the ice cream we’d ordered.

In an email that was sent just minutes before the two-hour delivery window, it said, Unfortunately, we are unable to fulfil some of the items in your order. As a result, we’ve cancelled those items and you haven’t been charged for them. The remaining items in your order are still on track to be delivered on time.”

What to note when accepting your delivery

When the goods arrived at the office at about 11.10am on Friday, the friendly delivery guy handed two large durable brown paper bags with our groceries in them. White stickers with barcodes and time stamps were pasted on them. However, no customer names were indicated anywhere on the package.

The delivery guy then whipped out his phone that had the Amazon Prime Now app for deliverers running. Since I had purchased alcohol, I was asked to key in my birth date into the app. He then asked me to sign on the app to confirm that the goods had been accepted by me.

Secure, durable packaging

We bought ice cream to see how Amazon Prime Now ensures frozen items remain chilled upon delivery; beers to see how deliverers ensure customers are of legal alcohol buying age; eggs to see if they remain intact and not cracked upon delivery; and we bought fruits – in this case, raspberries – to see how fresh they are.

When we received the goods, we were happy to see that our expectations were met. The chilled goods were packed in insulated bags that also had ice packs in them.

So that was our first purchase experience with Amazon Prime Now in Singapore. While the whole concept of Amazon Prime Now seems promising, the hiccups we experienced were a tad disappointing considering that Amazon is such a reputable brand.

If you went through a similar experience, you can send feedback through the app.

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