Amazon delivered 13 billion items the same or next day globally in 2025, saving Prime members an average of $550 on delivery and 64 physical store trips annually.
Amazon delivered over 13 billion items the same or next day to Prime members worldwide in 2025, marking the company's fastest delivery speeds for three consecutive years, according to an announcement this month. The e-commerce giant delivered more than 8 billion items within 24 hours to U.S. Prime members alone, representing a 30% increase compared to 2024.
The delivery acceleration extends across 35 product categories spanning more than 300 million items available for Prime delivery. Groceries and everyday essentials comprised half of all same-day and next-day deliveries in the United States. U.S. Prime members saved an average of $550 on fast, free delivery last year—nearly four times the cost of an annual membership—while collectively saving $105 billion on delivery worldwide.
"One of the big reasons customers join Prime is to save time and money, and our record-breaking delivery speeds are helping members save more of both," said Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, according to the announcement. "By expanding our fast, free delivery options to rural communities and adding fresh groceries and prescription medications to our offering, we're proving that members don't have to choose between speed, selection, and savings—Prime membership delivers all three."
The time savings translated to concrete behavioral changes. Prime members saved an average of 64 trips to physical stores in 2025, equating to over 55 hours saved, based on data from the American Time Use Survey conducted by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. The calculation assumes each qualifying Prime order saves an average of 51 minutes that would otherwise be spent on a physical store shopping trip.
Rural expansion drives accessibility gains
Amazon's Same-Day Delivery network significantly expanded geographic reach during 2025, bringing same-day and next-day delivery at no additional cost to Prime members in over 4,000 smaller cities, towns, and rural areas across 44 states. The company transformed existing rural delivery stations into hybrid hubs serving multiple functions, building on its $4 billion investment in the rural delivery network.
The expansion made everyday essentials including coffee, paper towels, and batteries available for Prime same-day and next-day delivery for the first time in many areas. These items accounted for 49 of the top 50 most-repurchased items in rural locations. The average number of monthly same-day customers in rural areas nearly doubled in 2025 compared to the prior year.
Amazon's grocery delivery expansion, which reached more than 2,300 cities by year-end, integrated thousands of perishables into the existing Same-Day Delivery service. Prime members can shop perishable groceries—backed by the company's Freshness Guarantee—alongside electronics, toys, and apparel without repeating the checkout process or meeting multiple purchase minimums. The expanding Same-Day Delivery capabilities helped enable delivery of 4 billion grocery and everyday essential items to Prime members the same or next day in the United States.
The vast majority of Americans now have access to millions of products for delivery within hours through Amazon Same-Day Delivery. The service is free for Prime members who spend $25 or more at checkout in most U.S. areas, though minimum order qualifications vary by location. The continued expansion of the Same-Day Delivery network in 2025 led to a 70% year-over-year increase in the number of items delivered in less than a day.
Prescription and grocery integration accelerates
Amazon Pharmacy expanded Same-Day prescription delivery through the existing Same-Day Delivery network, enabling medication delivery within hours at no additional cost for members. Throughout 2025, Amazon Pharmacy continued reducing delivery times and setting speed benchmarks for prescription delivery in remote, hard-to-reach locations, while providing 24/7 pharmacist support and clear, upfront pricing.
The retail media landscape's rapid evolution has intensified competitive pressure on delivery capabilities. Research from Omdia projects retail media networks will exceed $300 billion by 2030, representing approximately 20% of total global advertising revenue. The acceleration reflects how retailers seek new revenue streams beyond traditional commerce operations while brands demand more targeted advertising solutions with measurable return on investment.
Amazon's advertising business generated $21.3 billion in the fourth quarter of 2025, representing 23% growth compared to the same period in 2024. The advertising segment achieved $68.6 billion in full-year 2025 revenue, with Prime Video reaching 315 million global viewers. The delivery infrastructure supporting Prime's value proposition directly reinforces the platform's advertising capabilities by maintaining customer engagement and purchase frequency.
Ultra-fast delivery extends globally
Amazon brought ultra-fast delivery to customers around the world by expanding Amazon Now in India, Mexico, and the UAE, with initial testing underway in the United States and United Kingdom. Amazon Now delivers everyday essentials, fresh groceries, and locally in-demand items to customers' doorsteps in under 30 minutes with discounted delivery for Prime members. The UAE deployment relies on micro fulfillment centers positioned close to customer neighborhoods, enabling 15-minute delivery windows for essential items.
The company's infrastructure developments extend beyond ground delivery. Amazon streamlined its Prime Air drone delivery service in May 2025, announcing customers can receive drone deliveries within 60 minutes through a simplified ordering process that eliminates physical QR codes. The enhanced service deployed the advanced MK30 drone following nearly two years of aerospace design and verification processes.
Cutting-edge artificial intelligence models forecast where, when, and which types of products to stock across the fulfillment network. The AI-powered systems help Amazon store the right selection close to customers, enabling faster deliveries and shorter shipping distances while maintaining broad product selection for Prime members. This technology helps Amazon adjust selection in different areas to meet customers' local and seasonal needs.
The speed improvements come primarily from placing products closer to customers rather than requiring warehouse workers or delivery partners to work faster, according to the announcement. Teams picking, packing, and driving to customers' homes perform the same work for orders arriving the same or next day as orders that previously arrived in two or more days.
Prime delivery evolution since 2005
Prime first launched in 2005 offering free two-day delivery on a selection of 1 million items primarily comprising DVDs, CDs, and books. Today's members have access to free delivery on over 300 million items across 35 categories, all backed by Amazon's A-to-z Guarantee, with tens of millions available for free Same-Day or Next-Day Delivery.
Same-Day Delivery was introduced in 2015 and has evolved to reach customers in over 9,000 cities and towns including large metro areas like New York, Chicago, and Los Angeles, and rural communities like Saltillo, Mississippi; Ashland, Ohio; and Gypsum, Colorado. The continued expansion builds on Amazon's retail media technology partnerships, including Macy's Media Network integration with Amazon Retail Ad Service announced in November 2025.
The unified advertising platform consolidation introduced in November 2025 merged the Amazon DSP and Ads Console into a single Campaign Manager tool, eliminating fragmented workflows that previously required advertisers to manage sponsored ads and programmatic campaigns through separate interfaces. The platform integration supports the company's broader strategy of strengthening customer engagement through Prime membership benefits while expanding advertising capabilities.
The delivery speed achievements matter for the marketing community because they directly influence consumer behavior patterns around purchase frequency and basket composition. Brands working with 4-6 retail media networks more than doubled in 2025, signaling diversification strategies among advertisers. Amazon's delivery infrastructure creates competitive advantages in attracting advertising spend by maintaining high customer engagement levels and purchase intent.
Amazon's interactive video advertising research announced at CES demonstrated that 79% of consumers indicated interactive video ads are more engaging than standard video ads. The findings reflect how delivery speed capabilities combine with advertising innovation to create comprehensive competitive advantages in the evolving retail media landscape.
The announcement arrives as Amazon opens its advertising APIs to AI agents through the Model Context Protocol, connecting artificial intelligence platforms like Claude and ChatGPT to advertising workflows through natural language. The MCP Server enables advertisers and partners to connect custom-built agents or AI platforms through a translation layer that converts natural language prompts into structured API calls.
Who: Amazon announced delivery records impacting Prime members globally, with Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, providing executive perspective on the milestone.
What: Amazon delivered over 13 billion items the same or next day to Prime members worldwide in 2025, including more than 8 billion items within 24 hours to U.S. Prime members, representing a 30% increase compared to 2024. The company expanded Same-Day and Next-Day Delivery to over 4,000 rural locations, integrated thousands of perishables into existing delivery services, and extended Same-Day prescription delivery through Amazon Pharmacy.
When: The delivery records were achieved throughout 2025, with the announcement made on February 3, 2026. The 70% year-over-year increase in items delivered in less than a day reflects ongoing expansion of the Same-Day Delivery network throughout the year.
Where: The delivery expansion reached Prime members globally, with specific focus on United States operations spanning over 9,000 cities and towns. Rural expansion covered over 4,000 smaller cities, towns, and rural areas across 44 states. International expansion included Amazon Now deployments in India, Mexico, and the UAE.
Why: The delivery acceleration addresses customer demand for time and cost savings while maintaining Prime membership value. U.S. Prime members saved an average of $550 on delivery in 2025 and avoided 64 trips to physical stores, equating to over 55 hours saved. The company's $4 billion investment in rural delivery infrastructure and integration of AI-powered forecasting systems enable faster deliveries by positioning inventory closer to customers rather than requiring faster warehouse or delivery operations.
