Amazon Dives Deeper Into Grocery
Amazon is expanding even deeper into grocery through its physical store plans and a new delivery convenience.
The retailer opened its third Amazon Fresh Store this week, in Northridge, CA, and is reportedly hiring for several more locations. Amazon also just announced that, in addition to expanding its in-garage delivery program, it’s also launching Key In-Garage Grocery Delivery.
This new service enables eligible Prime members to have their grocery orders from Whole Foods Market or Amazon Fresh delivered securely into their garage. Amazon is launching the service in five cities; service will be available in select areas of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle before expanding to other cities in the U.S. To kick off the service, customers can visit www.amazon.com/keygrocery to check their eligibility and get a limited-time offer of a $20 Amazon credit after their first in-garage grocery order.
Amazon’s Key In-Garage Delivery lets eligible Prime members with a myQ smart garage door opener receive packages securely inside their garage. Once they link their myQ app with Key, customers select “FREE In-Garage Delivery” at checkout on Amazon.com.
Originally launched in 50 cities, the Key In-Garage Delivery service is expanding to Prime members in over 4,000 cities and towns across the U.S. including: New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, Dallas, Washington D.C., Houston, Boston, Atlanta and Phoenix; and thousands of surrounding areas such as Astoria, NY; Valencia, CA; Oswego, IL; Elverson, PA; Farmersville, TX; Frederick, MD; Magnolia, TX; Salisbury, MA; Peachtree City, GA; and Casa Grande, AZ, among many others.
After selecting “FREE In-Garage Delivery” at checkout, packages are delivered and customers can be notified when they arrive through the Key by Amazon app or the Amazon mobile shopping app. To view videos of their delivery, shoppers can also use a compatible Ring smart home camera with their Ring Protect Plan, or LiftMaster Smart Garage Camera powered by myQ with a myQ Video Storage Subscription.
The Key In-Garage Delivery expansion provides “tens of millions” of Prime members with contactless package delivery securely inside their garage.
Amazon Fresh Expansion
Meanwhile, Amazon is also busy expanding its contactless checkout grocery store, Amazon Fresh.
The 30,000-square-foot Northridge, CA, store is the third Amazon Fresh store location to open its doors and features the Amazon Dash Cart, which enables customers to skip the checkout line through a combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items put in the cart. The store also offers free same-day delivery and pick-up for Prime members and Alexa features to help customers manage their shopping lists and better navigate the aisles.
In addition to store number three – the first Amazon Fresh opened in Woodland Hills, CA, in August 2020 – the company is currently looking to fill around 1,500 positions at four stores planned for the Illinois communities of Naperville, Bloomingdale, Oak Lawn, and Schaumburg.
The company is also reportedly opening an Amazon Fresh in Woodland Park, NJ, in the old Fairway location. Fairway Market sold the store leases in Paramus, NJ, and Woodland Park to Amazon for a purchase price of $1.5 million earlier this year.
Woodland Park's Planning Board approved Amazon Fresh's application to move into the 59,350-square-foot old Fairway site, according to NorthJersey.com, which reported Amazon intends to hire about 100 employees for the store.
