Amazon reportedly banned from promising next-day delivery with Prime
Amazon is about to be informed it can no longer advertise unlimited next-day delivery as part of its Prime subscription service, according to reports. In forthcoming findings, the Advertising Standards Agency is set to announce to the e-commerce giant’s claims are misleading.
The Times has seen a copy of the report, following an investigation over Christmas delivery delays on Prime-labelled items. The ASA has not confirmed the findings, but says they will be published soon.
The report allegedly says (via Guardian): “[A] significant proportion of Prime-labelled items were not available for delivery the next day … because consumers were likely to understand that, so long as they did not order too late, all Prime items would be available for delivery the next day … we concluded that the ad was misleading.”
Should the report be confirmed, it’ll be a major blow to Amazon, which charges Brits £7.99 a month for the perk most commonly associated with a Prime subscription. In a statement, Amazon said it was working “relentlessly” to meet promised delivery dates for customers. It blamed the Christmas delays on the extreme weather conditions in the UK last December.
Related: Is Amazon Prime worth it?
The news comes as Amazon UK faces the potential of an additional tax on sales in order to safeguard the High Street. Late last week, Chancellor Phillip Hammond floated the idea of an “Amazon tax” ahead of more permanent measures to level the playing field.
He said: “We want to ensure that the high street remains resilient, and we also make sure that taxation is fair between business doing business the traditional way, and those doing business online. We may have to look at temporary tax measures to rebalance the playing field until we can get international agreements sorted out.”
The news comes as it emerged Amazon had dramatically cut its UK corporation text bill, despite enjoying much healthier profits.
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