Amazon has become one of the top stores for many users. And not just for technology. The North American giant sells practically everything in our country, either directly or through the different stores that they sell on their website. Although there are many of us who buy almost any product on Amazon , there are still many users who are not clear about what each of the services of the online store is for.
And it is not surprising, Amazon's business has diversified so much that, when we browse its website, it is easy to see concepts such as Amazon Premium , Amazon Pantry or Product Plus . Concepts that can be quite dizzy if we do not know what each thing is. For this reason, we wanted to explain the different services that Amazon offers through its website. A small guide that will help us better understand how the world's great online store works.
Amazon Premium
We start with the service best known by most users, but it hides much more than meets the eye. Amazon Premium is an annual subscription program that has a cost of 20 euros. Offers some advantages in different sections of the website, but the most important and, perhaps, call more users are the advantages shipments :
- Guaranteed free 1 business day shipping to mainland Spain on products sold or fulfilled by Amazon .
- Express shipping (1 to 4 business days) or Free standard shipping (3 to 5 business days), with guaranteed delivery in most cases, to mainland Spain and the Balearic Islands, on products sold or fulfilled by Amazon .
- Delivery today (guaranteed same day shipping) for 7 euros per product to most postal codes in the Community of Madrid and for some postal codes within the city of Barcelona, on products sold or managed by Amazon .
That is, we will have free shipping in 1 day, without the need for a minimum of purchases. Just for this point, many users decide to pay the annual subscription to Amazon Premium . However, free shipping is not the only thing that we can enjoy if we become Premium users. For example, we will have exclusive access to Flash Deals on Amazon.com 30 minutes before its start and to Amazon BuyVIP (Amazon's shopping club) events every night starting at 8:00 p.m., 11 hours before its official opening . With Amazon Premium we will also be guaranteed free delivery on the launch day of books, video games and movies available in pre-order.
But in addition to having advantages to buy, the subscription to Amazon Premiun gives us access to other services , perhaps less known by users. Let's review them.
Amazon Premium Photos
Amazon also has its online file storage system in the cloud . It is called Amazon Drive and if we are Premium users we will have 5 GB free to store any type of files . But the best thing about this service is that we will also have free and unlimited storage for photos , something like what Google Photos offers . The photographs can be uploaded from any device, since Amazon Drive has an application for both mobile and desktop systems.
If we want to use Amazon Drive as our main cloud, we can opt for an unlimited storage plan for all types of files that costs 70 euros per year .
Amazon Twitch Prime
Twitch is a platform that offers a live video streaming service focused on video games owned by Amazon . We could say that the relationship between Twitch and Amazon Premium is reciprocal, because with Twitch Prime we will obtain discounts on the Amazon Premium subscription with the purchase of certain video games in pre-sale or within 2 weeks from the launch date. And on the other hand, Twitch.tv users who link their Amazon Premium account will benefit from ad-free viewing on Twitch , free monthly subscription to one channel each month , and access toFree content such as vehicles, skins, and upgrades for the most popular Twitch games .
However, Premium Photos and Twitch Prime are not the only services associated with Amazon Premium . We have two others that, due to their importance, we wanted to comment on in a special section. Go for it!
Amazon Prime Now
Related to shipments, we have available Amazon Prime Now , a service for Amazon Premium members with which we can place orders through the application and either receive them in one hour at a cost of 5.90 euros per order , or receive them in two hours at no additional cost . However, it is a very limited service, since, currently, it only reaches Madrid, Barcelona and surroundings. In Madrid, we will have them available in districts such as Carabanchel and Vallecas, as well as in municipalities such as Pozuelo, Alcobendas, Majadahonda, Las Rozas, Torrejón de Ardoz, Leganés and Coslada, among others. In Barcelona, Prime Now reaches Badalona, Sant Feliu, L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, El prat de Llobregat and Sabadell.
The Prime Now delivery service operates 7 days a week and delivers from 8 a.m. to midnight . With this service we can buy many products sold by Amazon , such as food and beverages, drugstore, beauty, electronics, sports, toys, home and gifts. But yes, the order must exceed 19 euros . As we mentioned, in order to use this service we will have to download the Amazon Prime Now application , available for both iOS and Android.
Amazon Prime Video
Since last December, we have officially available the Amazon Prime Video streaming video service in Spain . Although it is true that the catalog offered is not as large as that of other platforms, such as Netflix or HBO , we will have access to exclusive Amazon series such as The Grand Tour or Mozart in the jungle . But best of all, for now, the Amazon Prime Video service is included in our Amazon Premium subscription .
To access the service, all we have to do is enter the Primevideo.com website and identify ourselves with our Amazon credentials . If we do not want to see the content on the computer, we have the option of downloading the Amazon Prime Video application on our smartphone or tablet, either Android or iOS . And if what we want is to use the service through our Smart TV, the application is available for some Samsung televisions (generally, models from 2015 onwards), on some LG models (launched in 2015 and later), as well as in all 4K televisions of the Loewe brand .
Amazon pantry
Amazon Pantry is an online supermarket exclusively for Amazon Premium users , where we can buy food, beauty products and cleaning products with direct delivery to the home. To access Amazon Pantry, we will enter the Amazon website and display the menu by hovering over "All departments" , located in the upper left. Here we will go over "Supermarket and beauty" and click on "Amazon Pantry" .
How does it work? The first thing we need to know is that Amazon Pantry products include a logo that identifies them as such . Once identified, we will simply have to add the products to the basket. When you add an Amazon Pantry product to your cart, a Pantry box will begin to fill . Each Amazon Pantry product occupies a certain volume of a Pantry box based on its size and weight . As we add Amazon Pantry products to the cart, we will see a percentage that will represent how full the box is . It is possible to fill several Pantry boxes in the same order, buteach box will have a shipping fee of 4 euros .
If this is the first time we buy from Amazon Pantry , we will have the possibility of getting free shipping of a box if we buy 5 qualifying products , that is, five of the products that are on sale. We will find them easily, since as soon as we enter Amazon Pantry we will have the ad at the top.
Once the box is filled (or not, depending on what we want to buy), we will only have to click on "Process order" and wait for it to arrive.
Product Plus
Another term that we may have seen browsing Amazon is "Product Plus" . It is possible that if you have ever wanted to buy one of these products, you have added it to the basket but then you could not buy it because the "Process order" button did not appear. Why is this happening? Products in the Plus Program (“Plus Products”) are those that Amazon sells at low prices, but that can only be purchased as long as the total amount of the order is at least 19 euros (excluding shipping costs). It is not necessary that all the products of an order belong to the Plus program,we can combine a product marked as "Product Plus" with others that are not . However, if the order includes a "Plus Product" , it cannot be made unless it exceeds 19 euros.
These products are easily identifiable, since they carry the label "Product Plus" next to the name and, in addition, when we enter the product, we have it identified in two different places, as you can see in the image above. Otherwise, the treatment of these products is the same as that of the rest of the Amazon store , that is, the same rates and shipping options, the same conditions if we are Premium users and the same post-sale policy.
And so far this special about Amazon services . We have been able to see a selection of terms and products that you have surely seen more than once if you are a regular user of browsing the Amazon website . Have you found any other term that you don't know what it means? Let us know in the comments.