Amazon Innovation Now Makes Gift-Giving Easier

This holiday season, Amazon is streamlining the process of buying and giving gifts.

Going forward, you can send gifts to others via email or text, even if you do not know their address, Amazon announced on Monday. All you need is the email address or phone number of the recipient.

To use the new service, you need to be a member of Amazon Prime. Then, simply shop for the gift and select “add gift receipt for easy returns” when you check out. At that point, you will be asked for the email address or mobile phone of the recipient.

Amazon will let the recipient know about the gift, and the recipient can either accept the gift or exchange it for an Amazon gift card. The gift-giver will not be notified if the recipient decides to exchange the gift.

The ability to email or text gifts will not be the only new twist to Amazon’s 2021 holiday shopping season. Although it is just the first week of October, Amazon says it already is rolling out “Black Friday-worthy” deals.

As of Monday, you can find “deep discounts across every category,” Amazon says. This includes products in categories such as:

• Fashion
• Home
• Beauty
• Toys
• Electronics
• Amazon devices

Look for deals at amazon.com/epicdeals and on the Amazon mobile shopping app. Or, ask Amazon’s voice assistant, “Alexa, what are my deals?”

There will be new deals each day. According to Amazon:

“In addition, on select days throughout October and November, top brands such as Apple, Hasbro, Sony, Shark, L’Oreal Paris, Bose, KitchenAid, and others will offer limited-time offers with deeper deals on their selection of most-loved products to give Amazon customers even more ways to save.”

Lastly, Amazon announced that now through Dec. 18, shoppers who have never purchased an Amazon gift card before will receive a free $10 Amazon credit if they spend $50 or more on Amazon gift cards.