What is Amazon Fresh and How Does it Work?

Over the years, we have seen a paradigm shift in people’s shopping habits. Visiting a traditional brick-and-mortar store, browsing through products, getting them billed at the counter, and walking out with your shopping bags, have undergone a huge change with everything now moving online. Of course, physical stores and shopping are still very prevalent especially when it comes to buying clothes, shoes, bags, or any apparel. However, what we would have never imagined is purchasing our daily essentials and groceries from an online store. 

Presenting Amazon Fresh! 

Amazon Fresh is Amazon’s initiative to take on the grocery and daily essentials market with a state-of-the-art grocery delivery service. It was launched in 2007 in Seattle and is now present in over 26 locations spanning six states in the US.

According to a poll conducted in January 2020, 34 percent of consumers in the United States preferred the grocery delivery services provided by the online marketplace Amazon. One year later, the share of respondents using Amazon to order groceries online amounted to nearly 36 percent (source).

Between September 2020 and April 2021, Amazon fresh reported an average monthly loyalty score of 3.42 points. Amazon Fresh has physical stores as well but the majority of its business is online. The first Amazon Fresh store opened in August 2020 and currently, there are 30 Amazon Fresh stores located all over the US. 

Quick guide:

1. What is Amazon Fresh?
2. What does Amazon Fresh sell?
3. How does Amazon Fresh work?
4. Where does Amazon Fresh food come from?
5. How to sell on Amazon Fresh?
6. What are Amazon Fresh stores?
7. How has Amazon Fresh revolutionized grocery shopping?
8. Final thoughts

What is Amazon Fresh?

Amazon Fresh basically allows people to purchase their groceries online on Amazon and have them delivered to their doorstep. The only requirement is that they need to have an Amazon Prime membership. The service has been made available in a couple of selected cities in the USA and a few other countries.

Customers can browse the products on Amazon Fresh using the Amazon app or website. They can even use Alexa to search for their desired products just as they would walk down the aisles of a large supermarket. If you want to know whether you live in an area serviced by Amazon Fresh, all you need to do is enter your zip code and check the availability. 

There are a ton of benefits of Amazon Fresh that make it a success. It is a very convenient option that allows customers to order and receive their groceries when they’re tied for time. Especially in the face of the COVID 19 pandemic, during which several individuals have been infected and quarantined, this type of grocery delivery service has proved very useful.

They also provide extremely high-quality products. The availability of your order history facilitates faster shopping as you can browse and purchase items that you frequently buy. Also, an added bonus is that the prices are extremely affordable and often cheaper than buying from a regular supermarket. 

What does Amazon Fresh sell?

There are over 500,00 products belonging to various categories available. Amazon Fresh’s product offerings range from fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy, fresh seafood and meats, snacks, beverages, and alcohol to cosmetics, skincare, infant care products, and more. 

Many times Amazon Fresh is confused with Amazon Pantry because of the similarity in products offered. So what is the difference between Amazon Fresh and Pantry?

Amazon Fresh as its name suggests sells fresh fruits, vegetables, dairy products, and meat which basically means that they sell perishables. Amazon Pantry on the other hand only sells non-perishable products. Amazon India however, recently announced that it has combined and integrated Amazon Pantry and Amazon Fresh into one platform called Amazon Fresh for ease of services to customers as well as from a fulfillment perspective. 

Some of the Amazon Fresh competitors are:

• Instacart 
• Peapod
• Vons
• FreshDirect
• Google Shopping
• Costco
• Walmart Grocery 
• Thrive market

How does Amazon Fresh work?

Basically, customers search for products, add them to their carts and purchase whatever they want. They will then have to choose a 2-hour delivery window during which an Amazon-trained shopper will pick up your items and drop them off at your doorstep. The delivery could be the same day or the next depending on the time that you place the order.

They have two types of delivery options – attended and unattended delivery. Attended deliveries require someone to be present to receive the order which will be delivered in regular plastic bags. Unattended deliveries refer to those that are delivered to customers in bags that are temperature controlled so that if there isn’t anybody to receive the order, the items will still stay fresh. 

How much does Amazon Fresh cost?

Amazon Fresh in itself has no individual cost. However, in order to be able to order anything from Amazon Fresh, you have to have Prime membership which costs For any orders you place on Amazon Fresh, the delivery is free as long as the order value is over $35. If the order value is less than $35, then there will be a shipping charge of $4.99 with expedited delivery charges going up to $9.99. 

Where does Amazon Fresh food come from?

Selling on Amazon, in simple words, involves storing products in a warehouse from where they will then be packed and shipped to customers for delivery. Amazon Fresh follows a similar model whereby all the items are organized and systematically stored in warehouses.

These are located in such a way that they are close to all the hubs and items can be delivered within 24 hours. Amazon also has tie-ups with several grocery stores as well in all parts of the cities so that items can be easily picked up and delivered. 

How to sell on Amazon Fresh?

Amazon Fresh varies from the general Amazon marketplace in terms of its third-party sellers and vendors. They have stopped 3P sellers on their platform since 2018. However, there are some third-party sellers that supply to Amazon but they are chosen on an invite-only basis after meeting certain criteria set by Amazon.

It is believed that this is because of Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods in 2017. Often the question arises, is Amazon Fresh different from Whole Foods? While Whole Foods is owned by Amazon, there is a difference in the products sold. Fresh is focused on groceries and at a lower price whereas Whole Foods caters to products that are local and organic and are sold at a higher price. 

Any brand that is sold by Whole Foods can easily meet the eligibility criteria. If you’re a brand owner selling to Whole Foods, you’re automatically eligible to sell on Amazon Fresh. You can also apply to become a seller even otherwise and go through the validation process to see if they’ll consider you. 

What are Amazon Fresh Sponsored Products?

If you’re familiar with selling on Amazon, then you would have heard the terms Amazon Sponsored Advertising. This refers to Amazon’s advertising services that are available to sellers to promote their products. There are three different types of ads available in the Amazon marketplace – Sponsored Products, Sponsored Brands, and Sponsored Displays.

If you’re selling on Amazon Fresh, you get access to Sponsored Product ads. These ads are useful in increasing sales and acing the competition as well as enhancing your brand awareness and visibility. 

What are Amazon Fresh stores?

Amazon operates convenience stores known as Amazon Go and Amazon Go Grocery and Amazon Fresh stores. This type of Amazon Fresh store sells everything that is available online.

The unique feature of these stores is that they have no cashiers and registers or billing counters. The concept is basically about being able to just walk in, pick the items you want, and walk out of the store which has prompted its name ‘just walk out.

There is no checkout process involved in these stores. How it works is that you need to have the Amazon Go app downloaded on your phone or device. The billing will be generated automatically on the app which is linked to your general Amazon account. This cuts down the time taken to wait at billing counters in regular stores thus increasing the efficiency and convenience. 

Recommended Guide: 10 ways to reduce your Amazon pick and pack fees.

How has Amazon Fresh revolutionized grocery shopping?

Amazon Fresh offers grocery pickup and delivery services like a lot of other platforms out there. However, it stands out in the market in terms of the technology and convenience it offers. The integration of Amazon Alexa voice technology makes the shopping experience a whole lot easier.

The Fresh stores have Alexa kiosks where you can search and find items easily. Don’t you often find yourself looking down the aisles of supermarkets wondering where a particular product might be? Instead of having to walk around and search, you can find one of these kiosks that are situated all around the store. Ask for the product you’re looking for and it will be easily located for you. 

All of us make shopping lists to easily remember what we need to buy. Gone are the days when you had to write down the items on a piece of paper or make notes on your phone. Now, with Alexa, every time you remember an item you can tell Alexa to add it to your shopping list. You can then use the Amazon app to go through the items.

The items on your list will be matched with those you put into your cart at the store so you don’t miss out on anything. Also, the ability to skip out on standing in long queues waiting to bill your products is an added bonus that isn’t available anywhere else. With all of the factors mentioned above, Amazon has changed the way we shop and is spearheading the evolution of grocery shopping. Watch this video if you want to know more about SellerApp’s take on Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh.

Final thoughts

In the world of technology, Amazon has combined two important things to offer a whole new level of convenience to customers. Amazon Fresh offers shoppers everything they need from meat and dairy products to skincare as well as fresh fruits and vegetables.

While selling on Amazon Fresh is not open to all, you can still explore your options by applying and if you get selected, it can provide you with a lot of opportunities and advantages. Amazon has provided the world with technology that has wowed us and it will continue to do so with exciting developments in the future even with grocery shopping. 

Additional Read:

What is the Relationship Between Amazon Search Terms and Keywords?

10 CPG Trends to Watch in 2023.

What are Fast-Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG)?

Post Written by: