Packages on a conveyor belt at an Amazon fulfillment center in Dartford, UK, Monday, July 7, 2025.
Jason Alden | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Amazon on Tuesday launched a new super-fast delivery service in the United Arab Emirates that delivers groceries, cosmetics, electronics and other household items to shoppers within 15 minutes.
The service is called Amazon Now and includes a variety of “everyday essentials,” the company said in a release.
Amazon says orders will be accepted “24 hours a day, 365 days a year,” and shipped through micro-fulfillment centers near the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The company says product selection at each site is tailored “based on very local demand.”
Amazon says you can get your package delivered in as little as six minutes in some areas.
The launch in the UAE marks the expansion of Amazon Now, which debuted in Bangalore and New Delhi earlier this year. Amazon Now will compete with established “quick commerce” players such as Zepto, Swiggy and Blinkit in India, and Noon and Careem in the United Arab Emirates.
Over the past few years, Amazon has built a sprawling internal logistics and delivery network, gaining increasingly greater control over delivery speeds.
The company is standardizing on two-day delivery, delivering more items the same or next day, and deploying delivery drones in some parts of the U.S. and Europe that can deliver some items within 30 minutes.
A wave of instant delivery startups has taken hold in the U.S. in recent years, promising to deliver goods to shoppers’ doorsteps within 15 minutes, but many have been acquired or shut down, including Russian-born Buyk and Fridge No More, and Turkey’s Getir pulled out of the U.S. last year.
Prime members get free shipping on Amazon Now orders over $6 (25 dirhams), but orders under that threshold are subject to a delivery fee of about $1 (6 dirhams).
