Dive Brief:
- Amazon has started offering same-day delivery of perishable groceries to customers in more than 1,000 cities and towns across the U.S., the retailer announced Wednesday.
- For Amazon Prime members, the service is free on orders of more than $25 and costs $2.99 for orders below that amount. Other shoppers can place an order for a $12.99 fee, with no order minimum.
- The service, which Amazon intends to make available in over 2,300 municipalities by the end of the year and expand to more areas in 2026, builds on the grocery e-commerce options Amazon already offers through its Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh chains.
Dive Insight:
Amazon described the new delivery initiative as “one of the most significant grocery expansions” the company has undertaken as it strives to tap its extensive logistics infrastructure to deepen its presence as a food retailer. The e-commerce giant emphasized that its goal is to allow shoppers to buy goods like produce, meat, dairy products and seafood at the same time as they place orders for nonfood items using a network that is “already optimized for speed and efficiency.”
The project follows a test Amazon launched last year that allowed Prime members in selected areas to buy grocery items and other products using the same online cart. That program, which ran in cities including Orlando, Florida; Kansas City, Missouri; and Phoenix, demonstrated that shoppers were receptive to the idea of buying groceries and other products from Amazon at once, the company said.
Many shoppers who participated in the pilot had not bought groceries from Amazon before, but now place same-day delivery orders two times as frequently as people who did not buy fresh food, according to Amazon. Groceries proved especially popular with customers who took part in the test, with strawberries outranking AirPods on the list of best-selling items, Amazon said.
Amazon has also seen shoppers make more purchases at Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods because they’re “enjoying online grocery delivery so much,” according to Wednesday’s announcement.
Amazon brought in more than $100 billion in gross sales of groceries and household essential goods in 2024, an amount that does not include revenue from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh.
The company noted that it operates a network of specialized, temperature-controlled facilities and recyclable insulated bags to fulfill perishable grocery orders.
The expansion continues Amazon’s efforts to tap its enormous reach as a digital retailer and broaden its appeal to consumers as an alternative to traditional grocery chains. The company has worked for several years to expand its Amazon Fresh banner, pausing along the way to revamp the concept after determining that it needed to adjust the chain’s product assortment and make other changes.