Online giant launches grocery service in Germany
AmazonFresh is expanding its breadth in one of its biggest markets outside the United States.
The online retailer on May 4 debuted deliveries of fresh groceries to Amazon Prime members in Berlin and neighboring Potsdam. Customers can order from a selection of 85,000 items. These include fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, milk and refrigerated products, fresh bakery products, as well as 6,000 organic products, a wide range of gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan products, and a range of baby, health and beauty products and pet supplies.
Amazon is also partnering with more than 25 stores in Berlin as a means of adding another several hundred products to its AmazonFresh menu.
“The local retailers are a core element of AmazonFresh," says Florian Baumgartner, director AmazonFresh Germany.
The service will cost 9.99 euros per month, with an unlimited number of free deliveries for orders with a minimum of 40 euros. While the program just launched, Amazon is already considering its next steps.
“We start with an extensive range in a limited area and will take the time to improve the service continuously based on our experience and feed-back from our customers,” explained Ajay Kavan, VP of AmazonFresh. “We are working methodically and very specifically on how to extend this offer to include other post code areas.”
Online grocery sales have not made any inroads in Germany, accounting for only 1% of sales, because the country has a high density of food stores and the dominant discounters, Aldi and Lidl, have been slow to go online, Reuters said.
The online giant launched its AmazonFresh food delivery services in Seattle in 2007, and has since expanding to other U.S. cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Northern Virginia, Boston, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Stamford, Trenton, and seven regions across California. Last year, Amazon introduced the service overseas in London.
The online retailer on May 4 debuted deliveries of fresh groceries to Amazon Prime members in Berlin and neighboring Potsdam. Customers can order from a selection of 85,000 items. These include fresh fruit and vegetables, meat and fish, milk and refrigerated products, fresh bakery products, as well as 6,000 organic products, a wide range of gluten-free, lactose-free or vegan products, and a range of baby, health and beauty products and pet supplies.
Amazon is also partnering with more than 25 stores in Berlin as a means of adding another several hundred products to its AmazonFresh menu.
“The local retailers are a core element of AmazonFresh," says Florian Baumgartner, director AmazonFresh Germany.
The service will cost 9.99 euros per month, with an unlimited number of free deliveries for orders with a minimum of 40 euros. While the program just launched, Amazon is already considering its next steps.
“We start with an extensive range in a limited area and will take the time to improve the service continuously based on our experience and feed-back from our customers,” explained Ajay Kavan, VP of AmazonFresh. “We are working methodically and very specifically on how to extend this offer to include other post code areas.”
Online grocery sales have not made any inroads in Germany, accounting for only 1% of sales, because the country has a high density of food stores and the dominant discounters, Aldi and Lidl, have been slow to go online, Reuters said.
The online giant launched its AmazonFresh food delivery services in Seattle in 2007, and has since expanding to other U.S. cities, including Chicago, Dallas, Northern Virginia, Boston, Baltimore, New York, Philadelphia, Stamford, Trenton, and seven regions across California. Last year, Amazon introduced the service overseas in London.