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Amazon is adding a new service for customers of its Amazon Fresh grocery. It has launched a delivery service for shoppers who are not Prime members.
Customers who shop at Amazon Fresh can now place orders and have them delivered directly to their homes even if they do not have Prime membership. Initially, this offering is only available in select cities in the United States.
Customers in San Francisco, Dallas, Austin, Phoenix, Boston, Nashville, and Tennessee will have access to the service. But then again, since this is a delivery service, there are fees to pay. Non-Prime members need to pay $13.95 for orders below $50, while groceries worth between $50 and $100 will have a $10.95 fee. The lowest fee of $7.95 will apply to orders over $100. Amazon currently has 44 Fresh grocery stores in the U.S., many of which are in Washington, California, Virginia, and Illinois.
According to CNBC, before the rollout of the delivery service for purchases at Amazon Fresh, it was only available to Prime members who pay $139 a year for membership. They were the only ones who could order groceries from Fresh, launched in 2007. This was the e-commerce firm’s first venture into the online grocery business.
In any case, even Prime members are being charged delivery fees now for Fresh grocery orders less than $150. Due to mounting costs, the free delivery perk for members who purchased more than $35 worth of groceries was discontinued.
In the coming months, Amazon also plans to expand the Fresh delivery service to include all states in the country. On top of this, the company may also include items from Whole Foods and other grocers.
Meanwhile, the managing director of GlobalData Retail, Neil Saunders, said Amazon’s decision to offer grocery deliveries to non-Prime members is understandable because it is trying to broaden its customer base, which is very important to drive growth.
“However, given that Prime membership penetration is extremely high, the scale of the upside remains to be seen and it is likely that further changes will be needed to help move the business forward,” The Tribune-Democrat quoted Saunders as saying via email.
Photo by: Amazon Newsroom
