Amazon Ramps Up Grocery Commitment
Amazon is raising its grocery game. The retail giant is expanding its digital grocery service across the country and refocusing its Amazon Fresh physical stores.
This week, the company announced that it is offering free Amazon Fresh grocery pickup and delivery to all U.S. customers, broadening that service beyond Prime members. Prime members still get their own perks, with exclusive discounts and offers on qualifying items at physical and online Whole Foods Markets and Amazon Fresh stores.
Also on the horizon: Grocery and pickup service from Whole Foods Market to shoppers who don’t have a Prime membership. When that rollout is complete, consumers in more than 3,500 cities can access two-hour grocery delivery from Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market locations.
In addition to fulfillment from its own operations, Amazon is enabling customers to order groceries for delivery from local food and specialty retailers that sell their products on its site. Participating grocers include Bristol Farms, Cardenas Markets, Pet Food Express, Weis Markets and Save Mart.
Claire Peters, VP at Amazon Fresh, reiterated the organization’s commitment to expanding food access. “We’re always looking for ways to make grocery shopping easy, fast, and affordable for all of our customers,” she explained. “This marks another step in Amazon’s journey to build a best-in-class grocery shopping experience offering incredible selection, value and convenience.”
Even after pausing Amazon fresh store buildouts and recently shuttering its brick-and-mortar clothing stores, the company is sticking with physical grocery, adjusting its approach and model. Following a refresh of two stores in the Chicago area, a company survey showed that 90% of those shoppers reported that they were very satisfied with the changes.
That feedback, along with other learnings, spurred similar updates to three other Amazon store stores in the Los Angeles market, in Pasadena, Irvine and Woodland Hills. The stores will be stocked with more than 2,000 new national and private-label brands and include an onsite Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop.
While not committing to a number, Amazon shared that it will “continue” to open new stores in 2024 as it experiments with the concept.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2023 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Retailers of the Century.
