Amazon, one of the primary shopping destinations for many North American consumers, announced it would be delaying deadlines to allow customers to make last-minute purchases, Internet Retailer reported. Shoppers can get Christmas Eve deliveries on all orders submitted by Dec. 19, while Prime members have until Dec. 22. Those lucky shoppers in Amazon’s same-day shipping markets can even order items as late as 10 a.m. Christmas Eve and expect to get the purchase before the end of the day.

This is a big power play for the merchant, which will now be able to accommodate last-minute shoppers later than all but 25 online retailers. Of course, it can only be done with Amazon’s robust order fulfillment and logistical network, which have made the seller one of the most successful in the industry. Many customers are already doing their shopping with Amazon – the fact that they can make purchases so late into the holiday season is just an additional perk.

However, it is worth noting that while later deadlines can garner more sales from holiday customers, merchants also run the risk of missing delivery deadlines if unforeseen circumstances arise. In fact, this happened to many merchants last year – deliveries arrived a day late, partially due to the unexpected number of packages that had to be delivered and also due to a last-minute winter storm that affected road conditions.

While retailers may not be able to control delivery services or the weather, they can control how quickly they fulfill orders and get them out the door. To that end, that is where Amazon has traditionally shined – the company has an excellent order fulfillment process and an expansive warehouse network. Other merchants should take notes from Amazon as they look at their own order fulfillment strategies.

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