Close Ad

The Spoon

Daily news and analysis about the food tech revolution

Amazon Prime

Amazon Prime Day is Tomorrow! Will You Find a Kitchen Tech Deal?

You know the old saw about working hard and working smart? Well, here at The Spoon we are working particularly hard right now because our Smart Kitchen Summit virtual event kicks off tomorrow (get your ticket!).

Coincidentally, tomorrow and Wednesday are also Amazon Prime Days, the time of year when the giant retailer puts a bunch of stuff on sale — including cooking gadgets and other devices. And iF Amazon Prime Day wasn’t big enough on its own, other giant retailers like Walmart and Target are offering discounts of their own drafting off the Amazon hype machine.

Given how busy we will be moderating and watching awesome discussions about the future of food tech tomorrow, we thought it would be a smart idea to hand over all the Amazon Prime Day deal watching over to the experts who keep an eye on this kind of stuff all the time.

So, if you are in the market for some sweet kitchen stuff (or you know, just more stuff), here are some links to check out tomorrow:

WIRECUTTER DEAL PAGES:

CNET’s Amazon Prime Day deals page

If you can’t wait until tomorrow, Wirecutter actually has a list of Early Prime Day deals that you can peruse right now!

And for those of you really glutton for punishment, not only is Oct. 13 the first day of the Smart Kitchen Summit and Amazon Prime Day, but Apple is also hosting its iPhone event tomorrow as well! In other words, its going to be hard just getting through all the news tomorrow.

Walmart to Launch Its Walmart+ Membership Service on September 15

Walmart today announced it will launch its own membership service, Walmart+, on September 15. The service will be available for $98/year or $12.95/month and include free same-day delivery from Walmart stores, fuel discounts, and other perks.

A Walmart+ membership gets you free, unlimited delivery “on more than 160,000 items” from Walmart stores (with a minimum order of $35), access to the company’s Scan & Go tech that lets customers skip the checkout line, and discounts on fuel. Walmart said in today’s press release that “the list of benefits will continue to grow over time.”

Walmart has been testing free delivery through its Delivery Unlimited program since last year. When Walmart+ launches across the company’s stores nationwide, current Delivery Unlimited subscribers will automatically become members of Walmart+.

Walmart+ was first revealed in February of this year in a move that immediately invited comparisons to Amazon and its Prime membership service. Speaking to TechCrunch today, Walmart said it was “not launching Walmart+ with the intent to compete with anything else.” And the service is by no means a mirror image of Prime, especially considering that Prime includes free access to streaming movies, music and more.

At least initially, Walmart+ seems to be focused more on groceries and household items (along with some toys and electronics), an area the company is already strong in. This focus on grocery makes sense given the record amounts of online grocery shopping still happening because of the pandemic. A recent survey showed that Walmart has actually overtaken Amazon as the leading retailer for online grocery shopping, and adding Walmart+ could help solidify its lead.

Walmart and Amazon have actually kind of switched places over the past week with their announcements. With today’s news, Walmart, which has a vast network of real-world stores, is announcing it’s Prime-like service. Last week, Amazon, the online retail giant, announced the opening of its first full-on real world supermarket in Woodland Hills, CA. Both moves help illustrate how important the grocery category has become for each company.

Another thing to watch with Walmart+ is how many customers will adopt the Scan & Go technology, which allows shoppers to skip the checkout line by scanning product barcodes with their phones. Walmart’s approach is more manual than that of an Amazon Go store, which uses cameras and sensors to automatically track what shoppers are buying. Will the extra scanning step inhibit adoption of Scan & Go? Also, in the pandemic era, where contactless payments are increasingly table stakes, will Walmart incentivize more people to use Scan & Go, and will customers like the system?

We’ll mark our calendars and see.

Additional reporting by Chris Albrecht.

How will Amazon’s 150M Prime Members Tip the Grocery Scales?

Amazon announced its fourth quarter earnings yesterday, and among the big numbers the company released was the news that it now has 150 million Prime members worldwide. That’s a lot of people with access to Fleabag. Well, more germane to our purposes here at The Spoon, that’s a lot of people who can get free grocery delivery courtesy of Amazon.

We should caveat that the 150 million number is global, and Amazon didn’t break out how many of those members are in the U.S. What we do know is that number is a 50 percent increase in the number of memberships from April 2018, when the company said it had 100 million Prime members worldwide. And while this isn’t a first-hand source, in January of last year, Consumer Intelligence Research Partners estimated that Amazon had 101 million Prime members in the U.S.

Prime members in more than 2,000 U.S. cities get free one- and two-hour grocery delivery from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh, a perk Amazon added in October of last year (we explained why Amazon did this). In yesterday’s earnings, Amazon said that delivery orders from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh more than doubled in the fourth quarter year-over-year.

To be fair, “doubling” is a vague and almost useless stat since we don’t know what the previous number was. But flipping that one lever had an immediate impact. What happens as Amazon starts ramping up its grocery efforts?

While Amazon owns all of the Whole Foods locations, the company is building out its own grocery stores, the first of which is slated to open next month in Woodland Hills, CA. Having its own grocery chain is important for a number of reasons.

First, Amazon stores won’t be bound by the same food restrictions as Whole Foods, which doesn’t stock items that contain things like artificial sweeteners or colors. So Amazon will be able to carry more of the products people want.

Second, Amazon is building its own grocery supply chain and logistics from the ground up, so speed and order fulfillment are bound to be innovative and fast. Additionally, as it builds out more physical locations, Amazon will be able to offer more grocery pickup options instead of just delivery.

Finally, the company has tons of data on its Prime members. It knows what they buy, how often, etc.. It will be able to leverage this to make recommendations (perhaps a nudge from Alexa), create promotional offers or bundle in other services (package pickup or return).

All of this comes amidst a fierce battle for grocery supremacy in the U.S. Walmart is rolling out its Delivery Unlimited service nationally, and Kroger is building out robot-powered smart warehouses across the country to speed up online grocery order fulfillment. And both of those retailers are experimenting with grocery delivery via self-driving vehicles.

But Amazon’s Prime Membership gives it a unique weapon in grocery wars — an army of people paying for a closer relationship with Amazon. For better or worse, Amazon is a deeply embedded part of many people’s lives here in the U.S., which means Amazon will be able to tie together technology and data and convenience together in a package in a way its rivals will be hard pressed to match.

Survey: Amazon Has More Than 100M Prime Members in the U.S.

Amazon is famously secretive and vague with its stats, so we oftentimes have to look at outside sources to get a sense guess as to how various parts of the company are doing. Like a new survey out today from Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (h/t Geekwire), which estimates that as of December 31, 2018, Amazon had 101 million Prime members in the U.S.

It’s worth taking a moment to note that in a letter to shareholders last April, Amazon said it had more than 100 million Prime members worldwide. We don’t know what the mix of U.S. v. non U.S. subscribers was back then, so we can’t be sure how much of an increase this represents.

But if Consumer Intelligence’s estimates are accurate, then there are a number of implications. First is that Prime Membership in the U.S. continued to grow. Consumer Intelligence says Prime membership grew 10 percent last year, which is slower than in years past, but still significant given the size of the audience. That growth was also at a time of growing backlash against tech companies, including Amazon.

More specific to our interests here at The Spoon, that massive Prime subscriber base means more people can be “nudged” by Amazon to shop special deals at Whole Foods, do online grocery delivery through Amazon Fresh, and experience same day delivery through Prime Now. Amazon Prime members can also be driven towards Amazon’s brick and mortar retail stores like the rapidly expanding cashierless Amazon Go convenience stores and the 4-Star store.

Amazon Prime membership also unlocks video and music features on the Alexa-powered devices, which can, in turn, drive loyalty to and more sales of those smart speakers and displays. There’s the obvious benefit of more direct revenue for Amazon (the company said it sold tens of millions of Alexa devices this past holiday). But it also keeps the Alexa install base at a point where smart kitchen appliance manufacturers like Samsung and LG will still want to incorporate Alexa voice controls into their devices. The more devices that use Alexa, the more Amazon can control the direction of the emerging voice control sector.

Perhaps most important, however, is that all this activity from Prime members across brick and mortar, online and mobile app orders, voice commands and appliance interaction provides Amazon with more data. This data can then be used to better understand and market to existing and potential customers, make Alexa even more useful/powerful — and generate even more Prime memberships.

Whole Foods Added to Amazon Prime Day, Which is Now 36 Hours

Experiencing Amazon Prime Day this year will be like entering some Star Trek-ian alternate dimension of deep discounts, as the company is expanding it through both time and space. Amazon announced today that its big bargain bash will begin on July 16th at noon Pacific Time and last for 36 hours (up from 30 last year). And this year, it will move beyond the screen and into the real world with the inclusion of Whole Foods.

For the uninitiated, Amazon Prime Day is a play by the retailer to get people to flock to its site throughout the day to watch a steady stream of products they don’t want or need get marked down. (We recommend following The Wirecutter, which monitors the deals all day and alerts you to the genuinely good offers.) While the sale starts in earnest later this month, some Prime deals are already available on Amazon products like the Echo Show and for services like Amazon Music and Audible.

But for our purposes here at The Spoon, we are watching to see how Whole Foods, which Amazon acquired last year, will fit into the mix. Prime members already get free two-hour delivery and member-only discounts. According to the press release, on Prime Day Prime members will get an “additional 10 percent off hundreds of sale items throughout Whole Foods Market stores, and deep discounts on select popular products.”

All of this is important to consider as Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods cast a giant shadow over the entire grocery sector. Rivals like Walmart, Krogers and Albertsons have been forced to make their own partnerships and investments in delivery and logistics to try and fend off Amazon.

But Whole Foods isn’t just about selling food for Amazon; it’s also a venue for selling Amazon Prime memberships (which is already at 100 million subscribers). Adding Prime members fosters more loyalty and begets more sales at Whole Foods (and on Amazon), discouraging customers from shopping elsewhere. Additionally, Whole Foods stores serve as pop-up locations for Amazon to showcase its own technology, like the Echo line of Alex voice assistants… which can be used to shop for groceries by just talking. Or Amazon can use it to educate people about Amazon Ring smart doorbells and Amazon Key in-home or in-trunk delivery.

Further out, driving people to Whole Foods locations allows Amazon to collect even more data about its customers and their purchasing habits, which can be used and monetized through its various divisions. One also has to imagine it can surreptitiously take advantage of said data to further its futuristic cashier-less store technology.

The counter to all this, is how will the traditional Whole Foods customer react to this new dimension of Amazoninification? Will they be turned off by all the tech and Prime messaging?

And while in its own dimension Star Trek had its Prime Directive to not interfere with the development of civilizations, Amazon’s Prime Day is poised to keep growing until it becomes the basis for our new civilization.

We’re kidding.

We hope.

Amazon Prime has More Than 100M Members, Set to Devour… Everything?

For the first time, Amazon has provided specific numbers around its Prime Membership business, and in the immortal words of Velma, Scooby-Doo’s smartest sidekick — “JINKIES!” In its letter to shareholders, the retail giant disclosed that it has amassed more than 100 million Prime subscribers worldwide since launching the service 13 years ago.

Geekwire did the math and on it’s face, this means that Amazon is pulling in at minimum $9.9 billion a year (5.5 percent of total 2017 revenue) just from membership fees. What started as a way to get faster shipping of your ordered items has transmogrified into a multi-headed beast that includes streaming video, music, and same day grocery and restaurant delivery (in select cities).

The company is also increasing Prime synergies at Whole Foods, which it purchased last year. It’s expanding free two-hour grocery delivery from select Whole Foods, and is using those real world locations to sell more Echo and Alexa devices (which begets more voice shopping), as well as pick up spots for Amazon Lockers.

Additionally, Marketwatch reports that Amazon is folding the Whole Foods loyalty program into Prime, and if all that weren’t enough, the same shareholder letter says that “[Amazon has] also begun the technical work needed to recognize Prime members at the point of sale and look forward to offering more Prime benefits to Whole Foods shoppers once that work is completed.”

This suggests, as industry watchers have predicted, that the company is looking at implementing Amazon Go-like functionality at Whole Foods — perhaps a TSA-like pre-check for fast lane service. In the shareholder letter Amazon seems pretty high on the early results of Go and its cashier-less, “just walk out” shopping. Amazon said top sellers at the Seattle Go location are things like caffeinated beverages and water but went on to add that customers “love” the Chicken Bahn Mi sandwich and Amazon Meal Kits.

Now, this could just be Bezos putting some heavy self-promoting spin on customer reactions to the Go store. However, one of the things we’ve written about here at The Spoon is the power of Amazon’s same day delivery and meal kits. The ability to order prepared ingredients and have it delivered before you get home (perhaps delivered inside your home) has the potential to fundamentally change how we shop and cook.

While we don’t know Prime’s specific U.S. numbers, with 100 million around the world, a good chunk of that is here domestically. Amazon has the audience and all the pieces in place to own the way we discover, buy, and eat all of our meals.

Jinkies.

Is Facebook’s New Food Ordering A Giant Misstep?

In Facebook’s attempt to keep the users on the site more than the average of 50 minutes per day, the company has added food ordering to its roster of activities. So, now, in addition to playing games, pinging your elementary school friends and sharing your Kickstarter faves, you can click and order food from local restaurants.

The feature, recently added to Facebook’s mobile and webtop sites, is basic in its operation. Depending on security settings, the “Order Food” option on the menu (marked with a hamburger emoji) will either populate nearby establishments or allow you to search based on location. A story in TechCrunch reports the new service will be powered by Delivery.com and Slice.

Rather than making a big splash with the announcement, Facebook mentioned food ordering in an October 2016 release. The news was lumped in with other planned capabilities, such as requesting appointments, buying movie tickets and getting quotes from local businesses. In short, it’s the concept of throwing ideas against a wall and seeing what will stick.

Because of Facebook’s reach and market clout, this new capability may be considered a threat to established player such as GrubHub (whose stock took an immediate hit).  In reality, that notion of immediate impact on competitors is an overreach. While Facebook’s new Order Food capability has yet to fully mature, it does not appear to be incorporated into user feeds which would make it far more immediate and powerful. As currently deployed, the feature is not an impulse play like the many sponsored posts that appear in Facebook member feeds. Facebook hopes its habitual users will simply add food delivery to their existing list of activities as they go through their day.

More than anything, Facebook’s entry into the restaurant delivery space shines a light on one of the company’s more glaring weaknesses—its lack of a viable commerce infrastructure. On the other hand, Amazon’s new restaurant delivery service takes on all the workload from the restaurants it serves. And, by the way, Amazon has its own fleet of drivers to deliver food while Facebook is in the background with others doing the heavy lifting.

Facebook’s strategy of looking for ways to keep its users on the site longer is a throwback to the early days of web portals such as Yahoo, Lycos, Infoseek and even AOL. Those stalwarts had one or two prime draws—generally search and email—that kept folks coming back several times a day. Each of these—now mostly dormant—websites began to add new functionality which eventually made them so cluttered that they collapsed under the weight of their vision. It also is one of the reasons that Google was able to come in and eradicate the competition—it did one thing (search) and did it better than anyone else.

In the volatile world of food delivery, the winners will be those who offer restaurants a total, easy-to-use platform that allows them to focus on food, while partners such as GrubHub, UberEats, Amazon, Postmates and others take on the heavy lifting. Will Facebook be a player in this food fight? Probably not.

Foodie Inventor Dave Arnold Is Making a Centrifuge

Dave Arnold wants to help you make the most delicious food you’ve ever tasted. The energetic, food-obsessed owner of experimental cocktail bar Booker & Dax and director of the Museum of Food & Drink has already created the Searzall torch attachment to help you, well, sear it all, and now he’s working on a centrifuge for home and restaurant use.

He uses the centrifuge at the bar to make his signature milk-washed spirits (think egg-white cocktails without the egg white), among other things, but practically speaking, a standard centrifuge is pretty impractical for anywhere but the lab. It costs about $8,000 and is “the size of a washing machine,” he said, and it doesn’t even allow you to make large quantities at a time.

Arnold’s centrifuge, on the other hand, is “designed for kitchens,” meaning that it operates at a lower rate (think 2,000 times the force of gravity instead of 4,000) and is much safer, smaller, lighter, and less expensive. He actually designed the centrifuge himself, quite a technical feat, and is micromanaging the manufacturers in China and the States to make sure they get every detail right.

He’s hoping to start discounted presales on Amazon Prime by the end of 2016 for less than $1,000.

That means restaurants will be able to afford to run four at a time, automatically increasing their ability to innovate and experiment.

What the heck would they be innovating and experimenting with? Well, clarifying any liquid you could ever want, for starters, especially fruit juices or even coffee. But where the centrifuge really “blows everything else out of the water” is with flavored and infused oils. “I don’t anticipate there being any other tool on the market that will touch it,” Arnold said. “Throw [the spices] in a centrifuge and the flavor is just like, ‘Sploooosh!’” Same for other recipes that don’t yield high amounts, like the famous pea butter from Modernist Cuisine, which he said is better made at home for a small family than in a restaurant with lots of hungry patrons.

Now, this isn’t going to change home cooking forever: Few people can afford a $1,000 gadget that makes flavored oil. And only the highest-end kitchens will probably consider using it. But those who do use it will find their food improved with little effort, which I personally hope will translate to higher standards for all food going forward.

Of course, Arnold acknowledges that there might be a little (read: giant) learning curve. “The way I tend to think about things isn’t the way most users think about things,” he said. “I’m not thinking about the recipe, I’m thinking about what’s happening inside the machine.” So he’s completely rewriting the protocols of how to use this thing (which he originally outlined in Liquid Intelligence: The Art and Science of the Perfect Cocktail).

“The problem is that people are going to go off the reservation, and it’s not going to fail in a predictable way,” he said. In other words, follow his directions. Or else suffer the wrath of a cloudy cocktail or imperfect curry oil. And no one wants that.