Amazon goes all-in on same-day delivery of fresh meats, ice cream, seafood and frozen foods
Amazon, in a race with Walmart, significantly expands its rapid groceries delivery service.
More Amazon shoppers across the country will now be able to include fresh meats, seafood, ice cream, frozen and baked goods as part of their same-day delivery orders.
Amazon announced on Wednesday that it was significantly ramping up its ability to offer perishable groceries to more than 1,000 cities and towns, with the goal of doubling that number by the end of the year.
"By introducing fresh groceries into our same-day delivery service, we're creating a quick and easy experience for customers,” Doug Herrington, CEO of Worldwide Amazon Stores, said in a statement. “They can order milk alongside electronics; oranges, apples, and potatoes with a mystery novel; and frozen pizza at the same time as tools for their next home improvement project.”
The expanded delivery service for fresh groceries is free for Prime members for orders over $25 in most cities, or for a fee of $2.99 if the order falls below that minimum limit. Shoppers who aren’t Prime members can utilize the service for a $12.99 fee, regardless of the order size.
Amazon has been testing same-day deliveries of items such as bananas, milk, eggs, bread, and ice cream in a handful of cities, including Phoenix, Arizona, Orlando, Florida, and Kansas City, Missouri.
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It said results showed that first-time Amazon grocery shoppers in those markets would return to shop twice as often with same-day delivery service compared to those who didn’t purchase fresh food.
Among Prime members in those cities, the retailer found some fresh grocery items, such as strawberries, beat out popular tech gadgets such as AirPods as “best seller” items among all products sold.
Groceries, a category that Amazon entered more than two decades ago, are a big chunk of Amazon’s business. In 2024, Amazon logged more than $100 billion in grocery sales, excluding sales from more than 500 Whole Foods Market stores (owned by Amazon) and its more than 60 Amazon Fresh grocery stores and delivery service.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy in May told shareholders that he was “very bullish” about the company’s grocery business but at the same time, felt that Amazon “needed to have a broader, mass perishables offering.”
“We have started adding a number of perishable items to some of the select same day facilities. We've experimented in Phoenix, in Kansas City, in Orlando at this point. So now, when you're getting those items that you get same day, you can add perishables, like eggs or milk, or bread, or yogurt,” he said at the time. “That experience is really resonating with customers. We're seeing very significant adoption, and I'm optimistic as we roll that out to many more of our same day facilities, that that will lead to more of our customers buying perishables from us.”
In a race with Walmart
Retail industry expert Walter Holbrook pointed to one big catalyst driving Amazon’s effort to become more competitive with groceries — Walmart.
“This is all driven by competition. Amazon owns the ecommerce market. It’s estimated that Amazon accounts for more than 40% of all ecommerce sales in the US,” he said.
But Walmart WMT 0.00%↑, which operates nearly 5,000 stores in the US, is a powerhouse in groceries, he said. Groceries accounted for as much as 60% of Walmart’s total U.S. net sales of $463 billion in fiscal 2025.
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Walmart's $98-a-year membership service, Walmart+ (launched in 2020), is its competing subscription service to Amazon Prime and offers same-day delivery (within three hours) for items that include fresh groceries. Earlier this year, Walmart executives said the retailer by the end of the year should be able to deliver same-day orders to 95% of the US households.
“I think what Amazon is feeling the footsteps of Walmart, and they are getting louder,” said Holbrook. “Walmart has understood the potential of ecommerce and is delivering whatever customers want quickly. Also, each one of its stores in the US represents a distribution center. They can deliver packaged and fresh food right out of their stores. Even as it expand same-day delivery to 2,300 locations, Amazon will still be up against significant market penetration that Walmart already has for items such as groceries.”