Amazon boosts delivery options for holiday season orders

Amazon is offering new ways to track, receive and pick up holiday orders so its US customers can keep their gifts spoiler free.

Amazon Map Tracking lets people view the progress of their delivery on a map in real-time when the driver is close.

Share Tracking gives them the option to send tracking information to friends or family.

Photo-On-Delivery provides visual delivery confirmation. Whilst Estimated Delivery Window gives a two to four hour estimated delivery window.

Amazon Day, meanwhile, is available to Prime members in the US. They can choose to receive all of their orders on one day of the week, often in fewer boxes.

Customers worried about keeping packages safe or potential weather damage from snow, heat or rain, can take advantage of Key In-Garage Delivery, further info on which can be found here.

It’s also possible to have packages delivered to alternative locations via Amazon Hub or one of the e-commerce giant’s physical stores.

Alexa’s lips are sealed

To prevent a friend, family member or loved one from spoiling their surprise, Alexa will hide the names of items that might be gifts, even if a customer asks, “Where’s my stuff?” or checks their delivery update notifications.

Customers can also mark an item as a gift during checkout and Alexa will not reveal the names of the items either. Those who want to be extra cautious of keeping those gifts under wraps or are worried they might forget to mark an item as a gift during checkout can also change their settings for item names in the Alexa app to hide all titles.

“This year many customers and their families are opting to stay home so the challenge of keeping those special gifts under wraps from family, friends or loved ones is going to be greater than ever,” says John Felton, Vice President of Amazon Global Delivery Services.