After trialing the service in several markets, Amazon has expanded same-day delivery of perishable grocery items to more than 1,000 U.S. towns and plans to further expand the offering to more than 2,300 cities by the end of the year.
Designed to complement Amazon’s existing grocery delivery offerings — including from Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and a roster of third-party grocers — the service allows customers to order fresh grocery items such as produce, dairy, meat, seafood, baked goods and frozen foods alongside their other Amazon.com purchases and check out with one cart.
The expansion is a big step toward further integrating Amazon.com’s Everyday Essentials selection with the company’s grocery offerings.
“This approach creates a true one-stop shopping experience that we believe will drive greater customer loyalty and purchase frequency,” said Sam Heyworth, VP of Consumables at Amazon in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “Early results [in the three trial markets have been] encouraging — most customers who purchased fresh groceries on Amazon.com [were] new perishable customers for us. That’s what offering perishables on Amazon.com with relatively little friction does — it gets more people shopping for grocery on Amazon.”
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For Prime members, same-day perishables delivery is free for orders over $25 in most cities; orders that don’t meet the $25 minimum will be delivered for a $2.99 fee. For customers without a Prime membership, the service is available with a $12.99 fee regardless of order size.
The company has built out a specialized temperature-controlled fulfillment network to ensure these products arrive fresh, with every item undergoing a six-point quality check before leaving for delivery. Additionally, temperature-sensitive products are delivered in insulated bags that are recyclable in most curbside recycling programs, the same used for Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market deliveries, to ensure items remain at appropriate temperatures.
Learn more about the rapid growth of Amazon’s Everyday Essentials business and how it’s fueling the company’s grocery ambitions, in this recent exclusive Retail TouchPoints feature.
