Two-minute wonder

Amazon has been rolling out a service called Instant Pickup which enables customers to order snacks, drinks and other “everyday essentials” through the Amazon Shopping app and then pick them up from a locker “in two minutes or less”. In a statement issued yesterday (15 August), the company said the service is available in “five of Amazon’s fully staffed pickup locations in Los Angeles, Atlanta, Berkeley, Calif., Columbus, Ohio, and College Park, Md”.

Instant Pickup is being launched as a free service offering Prime and Prime Student members.

For now, the Instant Pickup service is being rolled out in select US college campuses. However, there has been media speculation that Amazon may introduce the Instant Pickup lockers at the bricks and mortar locations it will now have across the US through its acquisition of the Whole Foods chain.