Hoping to gain sales from last-minute shoppers during the holiday season, online retailer Amazon. com Thursday announced its same-day delivery service - "Local Express Delivery" - in seven US cities, namely, Baltimore, Boston, Las Vegas, New York, Philadelphia, Seattle and Washington D. C. The service might later be extended to Chicago, Indianapolis, and Phoenix.

The "Local Express Delivery" service, which will be a permanent service from Amazon and will continue even after the holidays, will cost $5.99 to all Amazon Prime members, who pay a $79- per-yaer charge for free shipping from the online site. However, for non-Prime customers, the same-day delivery service will come at a shipping cost of $18.99.

To carry out the same-day delivery service, Amazon will use the courier services of A1 and Dynamex Inc.

Noting that Amazon sales have clearly outpaced the sales of its rivals in the difficult spending environment, Ed Weller, a ThinkEquity analyst, said that the new service will do away with yet another obstacle in the way of finalizing a sale for Amazon.

Elaborating further about the benefit of the "Local Express Delivery" service, Girish Lakshman, the Seattle-based Amazon's VP of transportation, said: "If a customer needs a last-minute present for a birthday or wants a copy of their book club book before the weekend starts, they can order from Amazon instead of the hassle of a last-minute trip to the mall."