Amazon to offer same-day groceries delivery in 2,300 cities

Amazon.com Inc. plans to offer same day grocery delivery in 2,300 cities by the end of the year, more than doubling the current number and marking a m...

Amazon.com Inc. plans to offer same-day grocery delivery in 2,300 cities by the end of the year, more than doubling the current number and marking a major expansion in its effort to compete with traditional grocers.

Customers will be able to order perishable items such as produce, dairy, meat, seafood and baked goods, alongside frozen foods and household items, the company said in a statement on Wednesday, August 13.

Same-day grocery delivery is free for Amazon Prime subscribers on orders over $25 in most cities, it said. For non-members, the service carries a $12.99 fee, regardless of order size.

“Amazon.com’s latest move to grow food share by offering free same-day delivery of groceries, in tandem with core products for Prime members, could pull some on-demand orders away from rivals like Walmart and Kroger as its $25 minimum order undercuts theirs,” Bloomberg Intelligence analysts Poonam Goyal and Anurag Rana wrote in a note.

Shares of the grocery-delivery company Instacart plummeted almost 11% on the news. Supermarket chain The Kroger Co. fell 4.3%. Walmart Inc., which also offers same-day grocery delivery in some markets, dropped 1.3%. Ahold Delhaize, the owner of supermarket chains Stop & Shop, Food Lion, Giant and Hannaford, slipped 1.3%. Amazon rose less than 1%.