Amazon Prime Now, the company’s one-hour delivery service, has long been available in several cities in the United States. The company has gradually been expanding it to other countries across the globe as well. Amazon Prime Now was recently launched in Paris, it’s called Premium in the French capital, but the city’s mayor is worried about what it would do to the local economy.
Amazon Premium is now available to all users in France for €49 per year. Customers get free two-hour delivery for tens of thousands of items and should they require products within one-hour they can pay €6 for expedited delivery. The service isn’t just limited to groceries.
Amazon will ship thousands of other products as well through Premium, products including electronic devices. Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo hasn’t taken a liking to Amazon Premium, saying that “This service could seriously destabilize the retail balance in Paris.”
France has laws to protect local businesses, and Hidalgo doesn’t like the fact that Amazon only informed city hall of Amazon Premium’s launch merely days before it went live. The city is also concerned about extra traffic and pollution as a result of this.
The city is now pressing on the country’s legislature to “establish safeguards that ensure [Amazon’s] services don’t constitute unfair competition against retailers and craftsmen.”
Filed in .. Source: lefigaro.fr