With all the attention recently being paid to same-day deliveries by retailers including eBay, Walmart, Macy's, Nordstrom and tons of others, here's an interesting stat—and a delicious contradiction—from the largest and earliest same-day retail deliverer: Amazon. In tests with its Amazon Prime customers, the E-tailer found that the mere display of an icon touting same-day availability increased conversions by between 20 percent and 25 percent, which is stunning.
But even better, of those Amazon shoppers who saw that icon and then made the purchase, most of them ended up not using same-day delivery, opting instead for next-day. Given the way Amazon Prime is priced, same-day didn't typically cost any more than the $3.99 next-day pricing. So what is it about same-day that is so enticing that it drives 25 percent conversion boosts but is so unattractive that shoppers opt to not use it? Is this like those people who post burglar alarm system signs but don't use the actual service, because the sign delivers 90 percent of the benefit?