I don't understand. How is this practical? There are many things that won't work here --
- How will it be cost effective? This is not free two day shipping like in Prime.
- How can it be 30 min delivery? That would mean Amazon will have a whole lot of hubs all over the country in 1 hour radii. That itself sounds impractical. Amazon would give up the one big advantage they have over walmart - the fact that they don't own and maintain floor spaces all over the country.
It will be cost effective if people are willing to pay for it. It won't be available everywhere, only in densely populated areas, and the warehouses will only carry a subset of smaller, higher-value, more time-sensitive goods.
There are Walmart stores all over the country. EDIT: Why did you edit your post instead of responding to me? I'd say Amazon's advantage over Walmart remains the fact that they deliver to the doorstep, and with hubs across the country, same-day delivery becomes possible; be it via vehicle or drone.
> That would mean Amazon will have a whole lot of hubs all over the country in 1 hour radii.
Amazon is already building distribution centers all over the countries where they operate. They are massively upscaling their distribution network, and it's fair to expect that by 2015 they would have reached a point where they can guarantee 30 mins delivery in all major hubs.
Note that even currently, "prime" is not available for all items sold on Amazon anyway. I expect there will be similar restrictions as to what applies to "prime air".
- How will it be cost effective? This is not free two day shipping like in Prime.
- How can it be 30 min delivery? That would mean Amazon will have a whole lot of hubs all over the country in 1 hour radii. That itself sounds impractical. Amazon would give up the one big advantage they have over walmart - the fact that they don't own and maintain floor spaces all over the country.