Amazon to Begin Sunday Deliveries, With Post Office's Help

Experiment Is Web Retailer's Latest Speed Initiative
By GREG BENSINGER Nov. 11, 2013

Amazon.com Inc. will begin delivering packages on Sundays in the nation's two largest cities later this month with an unlikely partner—the U.S. Postal Service. The marriage of one of the country's most successful enterprises with one of its most troubled underscores Chief Executive Jeff Bezos's ambitions to weave Amazon more deeply into consumers' lives. The nation's largest Internet retailer has begun same-day grocery delivery in some cities, and is developing smartphones and a set-top box.​

Sunday delivery is Amazon's latest effort to chip away at a key advantage for brick-and-mortar retailers: immediacy. "Delivery on a Sunday would be very compelling for consumers. There are certainly people who decide not to make an order on a Friday because it won't get there until Monday," said Sucharita Mulpuru, a Forrester Research analyst. But Ms. Mulpuru said Amazon would likely incur relatively higher costs on Sunday because of lower volumes. "This has to be much more expensive than other days," she said. Amazon and the Postal Service declined to discuss the costs, volume projections or the length of the contract.

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