AmazonFresh Has Launched in Bay Area

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2013/12/amazonfresh_has_launched_in_ba.php

by dko • 13 years ago

78 71 13 years ago

blogs.sfweekly.com

rhizome• 13 years ago

Double-parking quick delivery trucks remind me of nothing but the 2000 bubble. Here's one way too big for the parking spot about to block a fire hydrant in the Upper Haight just last night: http://imgur.com/61lAhjW

nickpinkston• 13 years ago

|Here's one way too big for the parking spot

Just like every delivery truck ever...

hnriot• 13 years ago

that looks more like the driver was just stopping at the stop sign!

pws5068• 13 years ago

Interesting that they're opening with a different price model than Seattle's. $299/year and according to GeekWire their groceries are approximately 14% higher than in-store.

http://www.geekwire.com/2013/jeff-bezos-amazon-fresh-closer-...

bluedino• 13 years ago

I would pay a 14% premium to not have to go to the grocery store after work.

adamnemecek• 13 years ago

The selection is somewhat underwhelming though.

sanskritabelt2• 13 years ago

I kind of like grocery shopping, especially if it's in a decent store that has enough registers open and where the vegetables aren't molding on the shelves and the cans aren't all dented.

magic5227• 13 years ago

The annual price seems prohibitively expensive, especially compared to services like Instacart.

They don't seem to be offering a very good argument for why the service is worth the cost IMO.

silencio• 13 years ago

I could almost kind of justify it if the selection were better (especially since they also deliver from local businesses and offer Amazon.com items), but everything I tried to buy today was either completely unavailable (cat litter and chicken sausage), or only available next day (super fancy chicken sausage from some local meat market that I could just go and get myself today in 10 minutes), and I couldn't purchase an order under $35 even if I wanted to pay more on top of the still inflated prices. Amazon also offered up breastmilk storage bags when I tried searching for gallon milk. Iiiinnnnteresting.

I really wanted an alternative to Instacart and Google Shopping Express especially for the random Amazon items I'd want to throw in and a little more competition (really missing Trader Joes delivery), but I'm pretty disappointed so far. I was in Seattle this past weekend and I was super pumped to try it just to buy a water kettle for my hotel room and going all "I wish this were in SF!" but I can't actually find anything that I want to buy at home that would come faster/better than regular Prime shipping or competing services.

I ended up ordering from Instacart with almost everything I wanted instead because I was so frustrated (and I would walk to the local market but I'm sick). Easily would have been willing to migrate my grocery shopping to any service but they're all kind of shitty so :(

octernion• 13 years ago

Just out of curiousity, what are you looking for in a delivery service that Google Shopping Express/Instacart does not offer?

evmar3• 13 years ago

I tried Google Shopping Express (a similar idea) for a while and found that what really matters is how delivery works. I'm typically at work all day and I (like most San Franciscans?) don't have a doorman to receive deliveries.

These Amazon pages don't say much, but they show pictures of delivery trucks in front of Victorians like mine and a grocery bag on a welcome mat. If they left a bag full of food in my entryway like that it'd probably last 20 minutes before being stolen.

williamcotton• 13 years ago

I've got a storage space with Extra Space Storage and if you leave a key with them they'll put your deliveries in your locker for you. It is really convenient! I've got just a small 5x5 room that costs me like $90/month... Along with deliveries I keep my winter gear, backpacking gear, and all sorts of other stuff that I don't really need sitting around me house.

Disclaimer: I don't work for these guys, have any investments, or anything to gain, I just like the service.

evmar3• 13 years ago

That's an interesting solution. It seems to me if you have to go to a storage space to pick up you groceries you could just as well go to a grocery store to pick up your groceries, couldn't you?

mcpherrinm2• 13 years ago

You have the option of "Attended Delivery" with Fresh, where they make sure to hand it over to you, or doorstep, where they leave it outside. In my current neighbourhood (South Bay) I have no trouble with unattended delivery and prefer not worrying about being home in time for my Google Shopping Express deliveries, but it would be totally different living in San Francisco.

evmar3• 13 years ago

Thanks! That makes sense. I didn't see this in their docs, ut your comment inspired me to look harder. It seems their "learn more" link doesn't say much, but if you pick "Help" from the footer it has a more detailed FAQ that says what your comment does.

r00fus3• 13 years ago

I assume you don't have some side yard that the delivery man can locate the goods out of sight?

I have had groceries stolen from my front porch before (usually that never happens), but never if I take the time to instruct the delivery person to leave it in the side yard (front part is closed but not locked). If you still feel the need to keep it locked, perhaps a simple (i.e., 4 digit) combo lock?

aryastark• 13 years ago

I don't like unattended or scheduled delivery. This is what Vons does, in LA. However, we also have Yummy.com which provides delivery instantly. I've bought from them a few times, and they show up literally faster than a pizza does. We're talking 20-30 mins, in LA traffic. I don't even know how they do it. I can barely get my car out of the garage and to the market in that amount of time, let alone going up and down each aisle and going through checkout.

It's impressive service. I would do it all the time if the prices were lower and selection was better.

dylandrop• 13 years ago

I agree. Also, what about perishables? You can't have those sitting around all day so you'd still need to go to the grocery store for that

saosebastiao3• 13 years ago

This is the main reason I roll my eyes whenever people say self-driving cars are the future of product delivery. After hundreds of years of history in mass delivery systems, we still haven't figured out how to interact with customers at a human level...no way in hell a robot is going to be better at it any time soon.

rogerbinns4• 13 years ago

Think harder! The vehicle only has to arrive when you are actually there to pick up whatever it has. Robot drivers don't get tired, need bathroom breaks or get impatient. You can share your location if on your way home so it can meet you exactly as you arrive.

The vehicle can then have lockboxes. You enter a code and it opens up letting you access your stuff. (Or you use your phone or whatever.)

rahilsondhi• 13 years ago

I wonder how Instacart feels.

HorizonXP• 13 years ago

Probably pretty good since: a) It validates their idea. b) They just launched in Boston today. http://www.boston.com/business/technology/innoeco/2013/12/in...

user1239321421• 13 years ago

Odd ... all big supermarket chains do this in all of the UK.

My Tesco delivery is arriving in the next 20 minutes ... plus no annual charge over here.

bbosh• 13 years ago

But delivery isn't free, and if you are a regular user you can pay £120 per year for all inclusive delivery with Tesco Delivery Saver.

ulfw2• 13 years ago

Amazon's is a ridiculous $299/year!

ulfw2• 13 years ago

Yea but if it's in the Bay Area it's news worthy innovation.

(e.g. I ordered food from NTUC, Carrefour (when they were still around) and Cold Storage super market websites for delivery in Singapore three, four years ago. They have done it even longer than that)

mlyang• 13 years ago

Interesting to see a new spin on this. Webvan was one of the biggest busts of the dot com era (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Webvan) -- interesting that Amazon resurrected it..

colinsidoti• 13 years ago

More interesting... They bought Kiva Systems for $775 million from Mick Mountz, a former Webvan employee who identified warehouse fulfillment as a prohibitive cost in delivering groceries.

http://www.kivasystems.com/about-us-the-kiva-approach/manage...

It's unclear if Amazon has actually started using Kiva, though. Does anyone know? That 60 minutes special didn't show them using it.

Edit: Changed from "the prohibitive cost" to "a prohibitive cost."

yajoe• 13 years ago

It's unclear if Amazon has actually started using Kiva, though.

Yeah. They use them a lot. A lot, a lot. It was cheaper to buy the company than pay to outfit every FC. All newish fulfillment centers ( http://www.amazonfulfillmentcareers.com/amazon-fulfillment/l... ) are divided into "kiva" and "non-kiva" areas. I think there is only one FC that is fully "kiva," but it may be as many as 3 now. Details are NDA.

noise• 13 years ago

Webvan was the best thing born of the 1st dotcom era, sadly it was unsustainable. Their timing was perfect for me - I was car-less in SF with kids and the local grocery store had recently gone under leaving me with a bus trip in order to grocery shop. Delivery to my 3rd floor walkup was awfully nice in comparison and well worth the approx. 10% markup. They had really nice crates too, I have 3 that I still use for various things.

bhewes• 13 years ago

I wonder if this is an experiment to bring all Amazon shipping in house? This would fit with their huge distribution system build out across the globe. In the meantime Amazon's relationship with UPS and FedEx is not disturbed.

cma• 13 years ago

Impressively they are accepting VISA, MasterCard, and Flooz

wpietri• 13 years ago

So close! I was hoping to finally be able to spend my Beenz.

r00fus3• 13 years ago

Here in the south bay I don't have InstaCart, but my local Safeway does deliver.

The experience isn't the best (someone has to be there and sign) but a) I have a nanny and b) I don't pay $299 or 14% more for the items.. in fact, I would pay less as I don't carry a loyalty card, but deliveries give you the loyalty price (presumably, they collect the same kind of info anyway).

thetrb• 13 years ago

Serious question: Why would you sign up for the delivery with all of your information but not for the loyalty card?

r00fus3• 13 years ago

It's a matter of I don't want to carry the card around with me, and I'm lazy - I'll do all the signup for the convenience of delivery, but just lower prices? - not worth my time - at the counter I can usually whine and convince them to use their "default" loyalty card, and get the lower prices with no "tracking".

wehadfun2• 13 years ago

What we need is another kind of mail box. A "AmazonBox", but takes deliveries from other companies as well. Big, refrigerated, with a public/private key.

Aaronontheweb• 13 years ago

Amazon does have Amazon Lockers - the 7/11 down the street from me has them.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/?nodeId=...

wehadfun2• 13 years ago

Dam

discodave• 13 years ago

Yes but going down to the 7/11 to pick up your groceries defeats the point of delivering groceries. People need lockers at their house or at the very least the nearest street corner.

dmamills• 13 years ago

As an daily HN reader and Canadian from a very small town, you guys in San Fran live in a very strange bubble.

augustflanagan• 13 years ago

This isn't a new service, it's just new to San Francisco. It's been running for 6 years in Seattle.

winslow• 13 years ago

I've seen it around LA as well.

radley• 13 years ago

Curious what "San Francisco Area" means. I can only get Fresh in San Francisco, not Oakland. Maybe down the peninsula?

robbiet480• 13 years ago

The interesting thing about that, is I can order Homeroom (a restaurant in Oakland) delivery, but not to my house, 10 blocks down Broadway

mikegreco• 13 years ago

It isn't available in Santa Clara, so it's certainly not the whole peninsula.

philip1209• 13 years ago

North Beach doesn't seem covered.

georgechen• 13 years ago

I'm at North of Berkeley. Just check. Doesn't go that far yet.

ericd• 13 years ago

Not in MV. Sounds like it just means some arbitrary part of SF.

thefallsman• 13 years ago

Has anyone noticed that they give you gigantic bags for free? Our office (LA not SF) orders fresh all the time for basic food and they always give us enormous re-usable bags.

I'm trying to figure out, are they doing this on purpose (paper bags would be cheaper)? I'm assuming they are, hoping that you'll go shopping and use their cool bags and using this as a method of free advertising.

machinagod• 13 years ago

At least in Seattle they do ask to get the bags back, although it's not enforced (we once got a number of dry ice freeze packs as well).

The packs are also cold-keeping, so I wonder if that makes the paper-bag alternative moot.

CRowlands• 13 years ago

I wish they would do this in Philly I currently Use PeaPod by Giant.

smackfu• 13 years ago

Wow, one avocado for $1.25. Aren't they usually a lot cheaper than that in the Bay Area? That's like East Coast prices.

msoad• 13 years ago

No I buy avocados at Safeway for $1.50/ea

thesis• 13 years ago

Also that price in the Houston, TX area.

Eliezer• 13 years ago

$.50 at Grocery Outlet in El Cerrito.

southpawgirl• 13 years ago

Isn't $299 a year a lot of money? Here in London the major supermarkets have time slots where they deliver for free (typically late in the evening), but even a prime time delivery, let's say, Sunday morning, costs no more than £5. The most upmarket online vendor, Ocado, offers one year of free deliveries, anytime, for £40.

Ok, there's also Amazon Prime thrown in, which is good; and I suppose that in the Bay Area the average delivery journey is longer than in London. Still, it seems a bit steep to me. Maybe it tries to place itself as a luxury service in the Amazon range?

brent_noorda• 13 years ago

Amazon now has it's own delivery fleet. UPS and FedEx are F'ed?

petesid• 13 years ago

I wish it was better but I decided not to use them anymore... wrote a blog post about it

http://petersid.com/why-you-shouldnt-use-amazon-fresh/

AmazonFresh Has Launched in Bay Area

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