Amazon is sunsetting its Prime Now shopping app seven years after its launch. While the functionality of Prime Now isn't going anywhere, this move comes as part of an effort from Amazon to streamline all of its shopping features into the main Amazon application.
Amazon Prime Now launched in 2014 with a single mission — to deliver two-hour and one-hour delivery to customers in select markets. Today, Prime Now can be used to buy anything from fresh fruit, bread, laundry detergent, diapers, and even a six-pack of beer. Depending on where someone lives, Prime Now allows shoppers to buy from stores like Whole Foods, Fresh Thyme, Bristol Farms, and Amazon's own selection of items. Just hop on the Prime Now app, fill up the virtual cart, and items are delivered within two hours.
While there's no denying the value of something like Prime Now, sectioning it off as a standalone app isn't the future Amazon envisions for the service. In a recent blog post, Amazon's vice president of grocery (Stephanie Landry) announced that Amazon is in the process of shutting down the Prime Now app and moving it to the regular Amazon one. This is something Amazon's already done in India, Japan, and Singapore, with the United States being the next on the list.
The Prime Now App Will Be Shut Down By The End Of 2021
While an exact date hasn't been confirmed, Landry says that the Prime Now app and website will be retired "by the end of the year." That should give shoppers plenty of time to transition to doing their shopping via the Amazon app and not the Prime Now one. It may be an annoying shift for some, but overall, this seems like a positive change.
As Landry mentions in the blog post, Amazon wants Prime Now to fee like a more deeply-integrated part of the Amazon experience rather than its own thing. As she says, " While the experience may vary slightly by country, customers in the U.S. can shop Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market by searching those stores on Amazon.com or the Amazon app." Furthermore, for non-grocery items that people have also been able to buy on Prime Now, those will now have a two-hour delivery option when viewing them on Amazon.
On top of all that, the Prime Now app has never been in the best shape. A quick look at the App Store shows that it has a 2.5-star rating with nearly 4,000 reviews. There are complaints about the app freezing, having poor item descriptions, and being prone to logging people out of their accounts. Now that Amazon will have one less application to worry about updating/fixing, here's to hoping those things will be addressed as part of this transition.
Source: Amazon