Amazon plans expanded food service

Wednesday, July 19, 2017 - 09:39 by Simon Crisp

This week a new trademark filed by e-commerce titan, Amazon, suggests that it is about to launch an all-new arm of its online shopping empire, this time focusing on delivering meal-making kits to customers.

There are already a number of established services of this kind which claim to be able to take the hard work out of preparing food at home. Providing the correct ingredients in the right amounts to cook tasty dishes is seen as both convenient and more eco-friendly than the traditional alternative.

The name of Amazon’s rival service has yet to be made public, although the filing covers its slogan and provides an overview of some of the products which might be available via safe shopping online as part of meal kits, according to CNET.

From frozen fish and fresh meat to vegetables, fruit and condiments, there will be no shortage of options for hungry customers. And perhaps unsurprisingly, there will also be loyalty-based rewards available to those who keep coming back for more.

Earlier this year Amazon made a splash by snapping up Whole Foods Market, enabling it to get an instant foothold in the high street without having to set up the infrastructure itself. Now it will no doubt be making use of its new connections to help this meal kit service get up and running in the near future.

Whether it manages to unseat the incumbent competition remains to be seen, but with its vast suite of services and its dominant position in the world of safe shopping online, it has a good chance. The only caveat may be the need for customers to be subscribed to Amazon Prime, which adds a small barrier to entry and may put off some of the more casual consumers when it is launched.