Online shopping giant Amazon.com plans to compete with major US supermarkets by 2014 as its food delivery service expands. The online retailer, best known for its incredible selection of clothing, digital media, and electronics, is planning to expand its Seattle-based food delivery service to a variety of other United States cities.
The company, which is based in Seattle, has delivered groceries in its hometown for over five years through its Amazon Fresh delivery service. The company uses its own branded vehicles to ship a wide variety of products, ranging from beef steak to fresh, locally grown eggplants to customers in the Greater Seattle region.
From next week onwards, Amazon.com will expand its Amazon Fresh service to Los Angeles in what it homes will be a successful trial run. The company plans to expand to San Francisco and other West Coast urban centers following the success of its Los Angeles trial, with long-term goals of competing with major supermarket chains.
Amazon.com currently charges Seattleites a $10 delivery fee for small orders, with orders valued at over $100 incurring no additional charge. Online customers have the choice of standard or same-day delivery, allowing many shoppers to enjoy their online purchases within hours of finalizing their order.
Groceries remain one of the few consumer industries not to have been targeted by online retailers, largely due to slim profit margins. Amazon’s service will enter one of the most challenging online verticals, with dot-com startups such as Webvan, an infamous millennial failure, tainting the industry for over a decade.
With over five years of data from its Seattle operations to draw from and a network of warehouses throughout the United States, however, it seems that Amazon could be the first service to corner online grocery shopping. If so, many of America’s top grocery chains may have a serious new competitor to be worried about.
