Webvan, Kozmo, and Home Grocer were all online grocery services, of which all no longer exist. Now over six years later Amazon wants a shot at this market.
“Amazon Fresh” as Amazon has branded it, is now currently delivering to select greater Eastside areas by invite only. Amazon offers pre-dawn delivery in temperature controlled containers and normal day time delivery within a specific hour time slot. If you have not been one of these select few whom are receiving delivery from Amazon Fresh they also offer a local pickup option which is available to everybody. Downtown Bellevue was chosen as the first pickup location for this service, and a Kirkland location has been added since. The location is at 103rd Ave NE & Main St.
The delivery service is free for all daytime deliveries over $50, and pre-dawn deliveries over $25. (For delivery orders that don’t reach the limits the charge is $10) Kozmo’s downfall to their business model was that they did not require a minimum purchase at first, so they ended up with many customers just ordering a pint of ice cream (some of us here at db network are guilty of this) and having it delivered. With the cost of gas and the employee’s time alone you can guarantee it would make for an unprofitable trip.
Although you need a special redemption code to get delivery service, you are currently able to get a redemption code for pick up service at the Downtown Bellevue location .
Being that it is available in Downtown Bellevue, we thought we would give the service a try. We ordered items at 10pm, to be prepared for pick up at the Bellevue location when it opened at 10am (pick up times for the store is 10am – 8pm). The online experience of ordering groceries is wonderful. You can aggregate the items by price, relevance, type of food, and more. When going into the produce section, an impressive feature was the segmentation of banana’s (and other items) broken down into 1/3 ripe vs 2/3 ripe. This is very thoughtful, and will go a long way in the consumers eyes.
Was it mentioned that the prices are very competitive? (well, they are!) Everything is not perfect (yet)…They do not have all the levels of quantity for products that you would expect at your local QFC or Safeway stores. Also beer and wine products are not currently available, but will be added soon.
The experience only gets better when you arrive to pick up your groceries. An Amazon representative will come up to your car when you pull in and ask for your information relevant to your order, then bring your order to your vehicle.
I applaud Amazon for having the patience to not roll it out to the whole country all at once. With a much larger amount of people are now using and trusting online purchasing (more than six years ago). Amazon could potentially have a big winner on their hands if they implement this correctly and revolutionize the grocery industry.
If Amazon can’t do this, nobody will.
