Amazon Prime Now launched in Singapore, then quickly couldn't cope with demand

Just hours after it launched in Singapore to great fanfare -- Amazon Prime Now is down.

The e-commerce giant's launch on Thursday marked its first foray into Southeast Asia.

But for all the initial hype and excitement it drummed up, it seems like the delivery service is unable to cope with demand.

The app, which launched Thursday morning, showed that delivery was "unavailable" from Thursday afternoon till Friday afternoon, when Mashable tested it out.

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Prime Now has now resumed its delivery service, though the app still states that "delivery availability may be limited".

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And people were not happy:

Amazon sent Mashable a statement saying: "We are delivering thousands and thousands of orders each day.

"Due to great customer response, delivery windows are currently sold out. We are rapidly opening up new windows."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Amazon had initially boasted that its 100,000 square feet store, its largest Prime Now warehouse to date, would ship products at "lightning fast speeds."

"We know how busy Singaporeans are....[and] we know [they] are going to love the convenience of Amazon's fastest delivery method yet...shipped in lightning fast speeds," said Aarif Nakhooda, director of Prime Now on Thursday.

But unlike U.S. warehouses, which rely on robots to locate goods, the Singapore outlet relies on humans who do everything from placing goods to sending your parcels.

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The e-commerce store had initially promised to offer consumers in Singapore a free two-hour delivery for orders placed over $29 (S$40). For orders under $29, two-hour delivery would cost $4.40 ($5.90).

For now, orders can only be made through the app.

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Even CEO Jeff Besos' half-day stint as the world's richest man lasted longer than Amazon's delivery service did -- now that's saying something.