Amazon Launches Grocery Subscriptions for Prime and EBT Customers

Amazon has introduced grocery delivery subscriptions for Prime members and EBT users.

The new service, announced Tuesday (April 23), is launching in more than 3,500 locations around the U.S.

It gives Prime members willing to spend $9.99 per month unlimited grocery deliveries on orders of $35 from Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and a variety of other grocery stores and specialty retailers. The service also provides the same benefits to customers who don’t have a Prime membership but do have a registered EBT card, for $4.99 per month.

“Our goal is to build a best-in-class grocery shopping experience—whether shopping in-store or online — where Amazon is the first choice for selection, value, and convenience,” Tony Hoggett, senior vice president of worldwide grocery stores at Amazon, said in a news release.

“We have many different customers with many different needs, and we want to save them time and money every time they shop for groceries.”

Amazon began testing the service last year, trialing the program in Denver, Sacramento and Columbus, Ohio.

The company is expanding the program at a time when, as PYMNTS noted earlier this month, its dominance in the retail space is being kept in check by rival Walmart’s grocery operation.

As PYMNTS wrote, Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market in a bid to expand its food and beverage footprint and has been redesigning its Amazon Fresh stores and phasing out its cashierless Just Walk Out technology, which receives mixed reactions from shoppers.

“The 2017 acquisition and the subsequent enhancements were likely intended to give Amazon a leg up in food and beverage sales, but as PYMNTS Intelligence data confirms, so far, Walmart continues to dominate the grocery aisle,” that report said.

Meanwhile, Amazon is continuing to push sales of Just Walk Out technology even as it scales back the systems in its own stores.

In a blog post last week, Dilip Kumar, vice president at AWS Applications, argued that the technology works for smaller stores and that it will someday become a viable system for full-format supermarkets.