What Amazon Has Been Up To This Week

Read original story on: VentureBeat

It’s only Tuesday, but Amazon has already unveiled a trifecta of new services with one-hour delivery in NYC, 4K Streaming for Amazon Instant, and a new price-negotiation feature.

  • Trialing now in New York City, Amazon Prime Now uses bike messengers to deliver Amazon-ordered packages within an hour, helping the ecommerce giant better compete with brick-and-mortar stores, as well other instant-delivery services.
  • Amazon Instant has started offering 4K or Ultra HD resolution for a limited number of movies and TV titles to its Prime members at no extra charge. Similarly, fellow streaming service Netflix also has offered 4K streaming, but for a $3 monthly markup.
  • Amazon is taking a leaf out of eBay’s playbook by introducing a new “Make an Offer” feature that lets consumers negotiate prices with sellers. Right now this feature is limited to categories only—namely Sports & Entertainment Collectibles, Collectible Coins, and Fine Art, and is entirely opt-in from the merchant’s side—so don’t expect Amazon to turn into a haggle-friendly bazaar just yet.