Amazon has introduced a new service called "Fulfillment by Amazon Small and Light," which allows consumers to purchase small and cheap products without having to cough up more for shipping and delivery.
The new initiative will make it possible for consumers to purchase items weighing no more than eight ounces (230 grams) with a delivery time of four to eight days from a new shipping center located in Kentucky, according to Bloomberg. Until now, only Amazon Prime members or those who ordered a total order of $35 qualified for free shipping.
Shoppers can now place orders worth just $5, and the item will be delivered to their doorstep without them paying a single penny towards postage.
This new strategy is part of Amazon's plan to target consumers on a budget, especially those who are not keen on paying the $99 annual subscription fee for the Prime membership and are likely to shop more from Amazon because of the free shipping. This move will also give the e-commerce giant a competitive edge over retailers like Wal-Mart and Target, who recently announced their own fast-shipping initiatives for low fees, according to Fortune.
"Customers now have the opportunity to buy single items without a threshold," said Robert Eldridge, vice president of product management at Amazon, Business Insider reported.
Eldridge also talked about how the service would not only benefit buyers but also sellers, who have seen a surge in sales of smaller and cheaper products since Amazon started testing the service approximately three months ago.
In order to meet the requirements for free shipping, third party sellers must subscribe to the Fulfillment by Amazon (FBA) service for the same products. Amazon says that the FBA subscription charges are lower than what sellers would otherwise pay in shipping costs to deliver each item over a span of four to eight days.
"We've got thousands of products from hundreds of sellers and more signing up every single day," Eldridge said, further revealing Amazon's plans to scale the program eventually.
