[asnyder]

I wonder if this will lead to showrooming of groceries, like Amazon's done with books. The only thing preventing this is the wifi requirement, but of course one can already do this with their phone. Though it does make it even easier.

[patja]

I'm not sure that would help them. Amazon Fresh doesn't have a great record for beating grocery store pricing. See http://www.cnet.com/news/amazonfresh-vs-supermarket-a-hands-... which matches my personal experience when I've compared baskets of products my family commonly purchases.

I will say when we used it, the produce quality was very good which was one of my concerns. Seems like they went above and beyond to address the fear of not picking your own apple.

I can't see ever paying the $299 special prime membership they are requiring in some markets though.

[azernik]

The $299 annual fee does give some sticker shock, but annualized that's only about $6 per week (more like $4-5 if you already have a regular Prime membership and deduct that existing cost). Especially if you're shopping for 2 or more, that comes out to a pretty small tax on your regular grocery bill.

[mullingitover]

I signed up for the free trial (because that's the only way to see what they have available for sale). Browsed the prices, immediately canceled the free trial. I wouldn't use it even if it were free, tacking on $299 to pay for overpriced groceries is a non-starter. Granted I live only a mile from a grocery store, so it's not a compelling proposition to cut grocery store trips out of my life for that price. However, the people who'd likely get the most from this service (people living in rural areas) probably aren't going to have this service available to them anytime soon, if ever.

[azernik]

The other group is people living in cities for whom transporting groceries home is a serious burden. That's really the only context in which this makes economic sense for both the user and the supplier.

One possible example of the target market is my grandmother, living in a third-floor apartment in Haifa. She already uses a similar service, just less convenient - she has to go the grocery store, buy her groceries and take them to the register, and then order delivery at checkout.

Another target market is your standard techie with no car (e.g. me). In that case, the choices are either a car-share (whose convenience varies with distance to a car-share lot - in my case pretty high) or lugging stuff back by hand (convenience varies both with distance to the grocery store and with the number of hills in the way - in my case, I live on top of a gigantic hill). Even so, I think this is only worth it if the subscription cost is split between 2-4 people. I don't think this is for people with a car and a parking spot, but there are a lot of people who don't, even with a high income.

When I did the free trial, the prices weren't all that bad - generally if I shopped around I could find stuff within 5-10% of Safeway prices, and sometimes cheaper, and the convenience was amazing (for example, it also replaced my pharmacy/Target runs). Note, I did find a way to browse their selection before signing up - I just had to tell them what urban area I'm in.

[jmelloy]

$299 + $100 for Prime, actually.

We use Amazon Fresh in Seattle for all of our groceries. There's no membership fee, and if they made me start paying $400/year for it, I'd never order again.

[mynameisvlad]

The "Prime Fresh" subscription fee includes standalone Prime (they call it an upgraded Prime). You still get all the normal benefits.

[cbhl]

Considering that Grocery Gateway (services parts of metropolitan Toronto; has a website and mobile app; is owned by a nationwide premium grocery store chain in the country) charges $10/order, you'd make it up if you ordered groceries every week.

If you don't order that often, the margins probably aren't high enough that Amazon can afford to service you.

[w1ntermute]

The prices will probably drop once they've got more fulfillment centers close to the large metropolitan areas.

[kenrikm]

Grocery is really low margin, and hard to make money on when you factor in delivery. Source: I worked for a grocery distributor for six years.

[binarysolo]

Opportunity and wait cost is annoying high if you're trying to save a few bucks by going to the supermarket, scanning all the items there, and ordering from Amazon.

If anything I'd imagine rolling into recommended food subscriptions.

[zanny]

If you don't have the products on hand you won't be trying to QR scan stuff. You would just order it from amazon.com.