Amazon is now launching a service that allows its Prime members to order simple things like T-shirts and batteries, as well as milk and blueberries, and have them delivered in a matter of hours.
With plans to reach over 2,300 cities and towns by the end of the year, the online giant announced Wednesday that its free same-day delivery service for Prime members on orders over $25 now gives customers access to fresh groceries in over 1,000 cities and towns, including Raleigh, North Carolina, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Columbus, Ohio.
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As it adds thousands of perishable goods to its current logistics network, Amazon referred to the move as one of the most important grocery expansions for the online retailer. It is anticipated that the expansion will increase the pressure on supermarket delivery services provided by competitors like Walmart, Kroger, and Target, all of whose stock fell in early trade on Wednesday.
According to Amazon, members can still choose for same-day delivery for a $2.99 extra if their item doesn’t match the minimum. Regardless of order size, customers without a Prime membership can use the service for $12.99.
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Previously, Whole Foods Market or Amazon Fresh handled the fulfillment of Prime members’ grocery orders.
Prime members pay $139 a year or $14.99 a month.
With a number of benefits, including as unlimited streaming with Prime Video and savings at Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, Amazon Prime membership, which was introduced in 2005, has emerged as the industry standard for subscription services. Walmart has been rushing to provide more advantages since launching Walmart Plus, its membership club, in 2020. The monthly fee is $12.95, and the annual cost is $98. Walmart members can arrange for same-day delivery of their goods, including perishables, based on their location and availability.
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In a statement, Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, stated, “We’re constantly innovating to make grocery shopping easier, faster, and more affordable for our customers, especially Prime members.” We’re giving clients a quick and simple experience by adding fresh groceries to our Same-Day Delivery service.
Customers can get milk with electronics, oranges, apples, and potatoes with a mystery book, and frozen pizza with equipment for their next home renovation project. They can check out with a single cart and have everything delivered to their door in a matter of hours, Herrington said.
Prior to adding Orlando, Florida, and Kansas City, Missouri, earlier this year, the business tested the service in Phoenix, Arizona, last year.
Compared to those who didn’t buy food, Amazon saw that a large number of its customers were first-time Amazon grocery shoppers who now return twice as frequently to shop with the same-day delivery service. According to early sales, strawberries are already routinely displacing AirPods from the top five best-selling products overall, and the top ten best-selling perishable food items in their same-day delivery carts are completed by bananas, avocados, limes, and Honeycrisp apples.
Amazon reported that, excluding sales from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh, its gross sales of groceries and household necessities last year exceeded $100 billion.
With an emphasis on rural and small towns nationwide, Amazon announced in June that it would invest over $4 billion to expand the size of its delivery network by 2026.
In order to store popular things alongside items tailored for certain communities, it also mentioned that it is utilizing artificial intelligence to assist it predict local client preferences.
