Surprise! Amazon Offers Fresh Groceries for Home Delivery — If You Live in the Right Place

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I discovered the Amazon Fresh website. Amazon Fresh is an Amazon company that sells a wide variety of fresh produce, dairy, meat, seafood, bread, beer, wine, and more. I was quickly disappointed, however, to discover that Amazon Fresh is currently only delivering to addresses in Seattle, Washington.

Darn it!   I love shopping on Amazon.com  because of the convenience of not having to run around to different local stores every time I need something. And as many of you working parents know–heck, even you non-working parents–life rarely gives us the time to do all the things we need to do, so any time-saver is a huge bonus. Fortunately, Amazon.com has been offering a growing number of canned, dried, and otherwise preserved grocery items, and I’ve been purchasing these as soon as I identify them as a product my family uses. But I’ve been hoping and wishing that Amazon would start offering fresh foods, as well. Because I’m pretty tired of having to run out to the grocery store because I run out of one or two things.

Why Does Amazon Fresh Currently Restrict Delivery to Seattle Neighborhoods?

Amazon Fresh is still a very new company. Having only been established in August 2007, they’re likely still working out their business processes to ensure things are done properly–and profitably. On the Amazon Fresh website, they state that they are expanding their coverage area as rapidly as possible. They’re not saying how long it will take to extend their grocery delivery services to the rest of us in the United States. However, looking at how large Amazon.com, itself, has become, and considering their ballooning presence in the U.S. marketplace, it’s logical to expect that Amazon Fresh is likely to follow a similar business model–one of world domination. (Kidding here–sort of. 🙂 )

Once reason Amazon Fresh may have targeted Seattle, Washington is because of the area’s lower average temperatures. Cooler weather makes it safer to leave  deliveries of milk, dairy, and refrigerated and frozen products on customers’ doorsteps. And targeting an area with a dense population–in other words, a city– means Amazon Fresh can deliver more groceries faster, which means lower cost and higher profits.

A third reason that Amazon Fresh may be initially targeting Seattle, Washington is that the headquarters office of Amazon.com–Amazon Fresh’s parent company–is also located in Seattle.

Comments, Anyone?

Any of you NindoMom readers out there have personal experiences with Amazon Fresh? We’d love to hear from you!