Amazon in new competitive move as it expands grocery delivery to non-Prime members
Shoppers no longer need to be a Prime member to order grocery delivery from Amazon Fresh — or from Whole Foods in the near future.
Amazon said it has made grocery delivery and free pickup available to customers without a Prime membership in all U.S. locations where Amazon Fresh is available. (The rollout follows a pilot in select cities this past summer.) The same services will soon be available from Whole Foods Market to non-Prime members.
The move to expand grocery delivery/pickup to non-Prime members makes Amazon more competitive with rival Walmart, which has been steadily gaining grocery market share, as well as delivery platform Instacart, Target-owned Shipt and DoorDash. When fully launched across all Whole Foods Market locations, customers in more than 3,500 cities and towns across the U.S. will have access to two-hour grocery delivery from Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market.
“This marks another step in Amazon’s journey to build a best-in-class grocery shopping experience offering incredible selection, value, and convenience.” said Claire Peters, VP, Amazon Fresh.
Additionally, customers without a Prime membership can now order delivery from a variety of local grocery and specialty retailers available on Amazon.com, including Bristol Farms, Cardenas Markets, Pet Food Express, Weis Markets and Save Mart.
In February, Amazon raised the minimum for free grocery delivery to $150 for Prime members. But about eight months later, in October, Amazon, lowered the threshold for free delivery to $100.
Amazon Fresh Redesign
Amazon also announced that based on feedback from redesigning Amazon Fresh stores in the Chicago area, it has done the same to three Fresh stores in the Los Angeles area (Pasadena, Irvine, and Woodland Hills). The updates include an in-store Krispy Kreme Doughnut shop, self-checkouts and more than 2,000 new national and private label products across the aisles.
In addition, the redesigned stores feature the latest version of Amazon’s Dash Cart, a smart shopping cart that allows customers to skip the checkout line.
“More than 90% of local customers who shopped the redesigned [Chicago] stores responded to a survey in September that they were very satisfied with the changes — from great sales and promotions delivering more value; improvements to selection and stock; friendly and helpful employees; and a warmer, brighter, and more inviting space,” the company stated.
Looking ahead, Amazon said it will continue to open more Amazon Fresh stores in 2024, and will "continue to iterate and experiment, introducing new features and programs in our Amazon Fresh stores to better serve our customers."
Amazon debuted Amazon Fresh in 2020, in Woodland Hills, Calif. In February 2023, CEO Andy Jassy told analysts on Amazon’s fourth-quarter earnings call that the company was pausing the expansion of Amazon Fresh “until we have that equation with differentiation and economic value that we like.”