Amazon Prime Now hard put to deliver

I'M sure you heard of Amazon's arrival in Singapore this week. Not only did the e-commerce giant make its much-anticipated move on Thursday into the Republic as a launchpad to South-east Asia, but it also made Amazon history by offering its exclusive ultra-fast delivery service, Prime Now, outside the US for the first time.

Prime Now made its debut in Manhattan in 2014 to users of Amazon's paid subscription service, Amazon Prime. It delivers products ranging from groceries to consumer electronics to one's doorstep in just two hours and at no additional fee.

This is pretty damn impressive, and definitely unheard of in this part of the world.

But going by my experience with Prime Now on Thursday (when my orders took over five hours to reach me) and user complaints (of being told there are no delivery windows available until Sunday), it seems that Amazon …