Amazon to challenge Walmart with new brick-and-mortar grocery stores

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Amazon has already infiltrated the grocery business with its Fresh delivery program, and the company now has its sights set on physical stores. A report from The Wall Street Journal claims Amazon is planning to open grocery stores where people can buy items like produce, milk, meat, and other perishable items. Some of those locations are also rumored to have curbside pickup programs where employees will deliver orders directly to consumers’ cars.

According to the report, these stores will primarily sell perishable items, letting customers pick their own produce—or at least allowing employees to pick things fresh for orders. There are also plans to let customers order other grocery items, like peanut butter and cereal, from a mobile app or devices in the store, for same-day delivery. The project, known internally as Project Como, will first be available to current Amazon Fresh members. Amazon Fresh used to cost $299 per year, but the company recently lowered the price to a $15 per month fee that Prime members can pay in addition to their annual $99 membership fee if they want to take advantage of the grocery delivery program.

If and when Project Como gets off the ground, Amazon would be directly competing with numerous grocery chains across the country, not to mention brick-and-mortar behemoth Walmart, which has expanded its curbside pickup efforts recently. Walmart plans to bring that service to a quarter of its stores nationwide by the end of 2017. Amazon would also be competing with startups that specialize in grocery delivery like FreshDirect, Instacart, and Delivery.com.

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Source: Ars Technica – Amazon to challenge Walmart with new brick-and-mortar grocery stores