Amazon Now Ships With Just an Email or Phone Number

Amazon’s holiday strategy includes making it even easier for consumers to send gifts to their loved (or just merely liked) ones.

The retailer is offering U.S. Prime members the ability to send items to people even when they don’t have their address. Using the mobile app, shoppers can choose a product, select “add gift receipt for easy returns” during checkout, and then type in the recipient’s email address or mobile number.

The recipient in turn can accept the purchase or exchange it for an Amazon gift card — without letting the sender know.

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The retailer is also adding a few new tricks to its holiday strategy kit. Shoppers can this year create a single, shareable holiday gift list that’s organized by recipient. Items purchased from the list have an extended 90-day returns.

It’s also sweetening its gift card promotions during the season: First-time Amazon gift card shoppers receive a $10 promotional credit with the purchase of $50 or more in Amazon gift cards through Dec. 18.

To generate holiday excitement, the company has developed a Holiday Prep Shop with livestreams from Amazon Live. Content from influencers includes gifting and entertaining tips, as well as a product picks from the retailer’s gift guides.

And, as it did during this year’s Prime Day promotional event, Amazon is throwing some weight behind small businesses, and has developed gift guides with curated items from women-, Black-, family- and military family-owned merchants.

The retailer has already kicked off its holiday promotions, dropping new deals at Amazon.com/epicdeals or discoverable through its Alexa voice assistant.

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Amazon is expected to account for 41.4% of all retail e-commerce sales in the U.S., according to eMarketer, reaching $386.4 billion by the end of 2021. It’s anticipated to earn more than $2 for every $5 spent online in the U.S. this year.

The company recently announced a hiring spree to help meet this rocketing consumer demand, seeking to fill 125,000 full-time and part-time jobs in fulfillment and logistics across the U.S. To help attract and retain employees in the tight labor market, it’s also offering to fund college tuition for 750,000 eligible operations employees.