• Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, October 28, 2009 10:44 AM

For reasons I cannot fathom myself, I was giddy with delight this morning to get an email from Amazon telling me that anything I order on Thursday that's eligible for Amazon Prime shipping will now be delivered to me on Saturday instead of Monday. I've been an Amazon customer from the get-go, but how many times have I ordered something on a Thursday that I absolutely, positively needed by Saturday? Well, enough times, I guess, that this announcement hit home.

That's not all that's afoot in Seattle, according to an article by Geoffrey A. Fowler and Ann Zimmerman this morning. It's also shipping its goods in more "frustration-free" packages (check out this clip of Larry David trying to open a package and tell me you haven't been there), and other online marketers are also beefing up consumer-friendly features and benefits in an effort to lure more holiday shoppers from physical storefronts.

Among the upgrades: EBay is highlighting merchants with the best ratings and now has toll-free numbers for consumers to call if they have a problem; Sears is launching online layaway; GSI Commerce, which runs the Web sites and warehouse fulfillment for brands including Aeropostale and Bath & Body Works, now only takes 2.6 days on average to ship a product, down from 3.6 days; jewelry retailer Blue Nile has easier-to-build custom rings on its Web site.

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