Amazon announced today that it will start delivering groceries directly to the inside of people’s garages as part of its expanding Key service.
Amazon’s Key In-Garage Delivery service allows Prime members with a myQ smart garage door opener to receive packages inside their garage when they aren’t at home. With grocery, that program will now include food in addition to packages.
The expansion of in-garage grocery delivery shouldn’t come as a surprise. Amazon has been making big moves into grocery over the past year. In October of 2019, the company made grocery delivery free for its Prime members. Then it opened two Go grocery stores in Seattle earlier this year before opening three Amazon Fresh supermarkets in Southern California.
Amazon is making all of these moves because online grocery is poised to become big business. The pandemic spurred record amounts of grocery e-commerce earlier this summer. More importantly, online grocery shopping is projected to be 21.5 percent of total grocery sales by 2025.
As such, giant retailers are all battling each other for your grocery buck. Walmart, for instance, has partnered with Instacart and launched its own Walmart+ service to rival Amazon Prime.
Both Amazon and Walmart had competing in-home delivery options at one point that allowed delivery drivers into your house while you’re out. But letting strangers into your garage when you’re away is probably more palatable than letting them into your kitchen. Placing groceries in your garage also means food won’t sit on your porch waiting to be either stolen or (less) damaged by the sun or other elements.
Starting today, Amazon’s in-garage grocery delivery is available to Prime members ordering from Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh in select areas of Chicago, Dallas, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle.
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