Thanks in part to adding two-hour grocery delivery service from some Whole Foods Market stores, Amazon’s grocery sales in the United States soared nearly 50 percent in the first quarter of 2018.
The online retailer’s grocery sales grew by more than an estimated USD 200 million (EUR 164 million) during the quarter, according to a new report from OneClickRetail.
Amazon’s United Kingdom sales also jumped by 45 percent to reach GBP 45 million (USD 63 million, EUR 51.4 million). OneClickRetail attributes the growth, in part, to Amazon’s partnership with Monoprix, a Clichy, France-based grocery chain that operates more than 800 stores in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East.
“This follows from Amazon’s major acquisition of Whole Foods and a partnership with British supermarket chain Morrisons, allowing Prime subscribers to order Morrisons products online on Amazon and have them delivered to their door,” OneClickRetail said.
Amazon also launched Amazon Fresh in the UK, a same-day grocery delivery service, in 2016.
Meanwhile in the U.S., Amazon began rolling out two-hour grocery delivery from Whole Foods Market to Prime members in several trial markets. San Francisco, California; Los Angeles, California, and Atlanta, Georgia have since been added.
“This is just the latest in a long line of strategic moves from Amazon in the company’s effort to capture the coveted online grocery market,” OneClickRetail said. Still, the retailer “remains in the trial-and-error stage, experimenting with a variety of private brands, brick-and-mortar innovations such as Amazon Go, repurposing Pantry as a subscription service, and identifying the best way to integrate Whole Foods with the platform,” the report said.
