Last week Amazon announced they had more than 10,000 non-perishable items and growing daily via their new Amazon Grocery section. Note: all links in this post are Amazon affiliate links, which illustrates that Amazon affiliates can make a few extra bones linking to food.

Amazon’s move into groceries prompted several negative comparisons to the internet bubble in 2000 which had sites that offered similar home grocery delivery options and with few (no?) exceptions survived. Our family has never used any of these services, instead choosing to shop at a (fairly) local Fred Meyer’s store for most groceries. We have bought from Schwann’s before which offers home delivery with an option to choose items from the web, but not a web to home grocery option.

Those who listened to last week’s Hmmcast already know this but I asked my wife, a regular Amazon shopper, if she would be buying any Amazon groceries and her initial response was “no.”

After some loving cajoling she reconsidered and ordered some items. What she ordered in a minute, but first the categories. I was curious what types of non-perishable items Amazon had and what their prices were like and today took a few minutes to check out the site.

Amazon Grocery Categories (all)
Snacks, Cookies and Candy - Contains: Pringles, Orville Redenbacher Microwave Popcorn, Popsecret, Act II, Jiffy Pop, oh and don’t forget gummy bears! Most items are bought in bulk, similar to Costco. For example, the Orville Redenbacher popcorn is purchased six boxes at a time containing six wrapped packages inside (36 total).
Breakfast Foods - Name brand cereals like Frosted Flakes, Total, Rice Krispies, Grape Nuts, Special K, Apple Jacks, Fruit Loops, Corn Pops, Corn Flakes, Eggo (cereal?), Apple Jacks, Cream of Wheat, Raisin Bran, Smorz (oh yeah) and Honey Smacks
Boxed Meals & Side Dishes - lots of boxed mac and cheese
Beverages - coffee and tea, neither of which we drink very much. Some sports energy drinks.
Condiments, Sauces & Spreads
Baking Supplies
Natural & Organic
Household Supplies
Health & Family

Ordered and parting thoughts
Checking in the Amazon order account I see my wife ordered fabric softener and laundry detergent.
I asked her how the prices compared.
“They were good,” she said.
Compared to what?
“Compared to Costco good and other places good.” Because she chose Super Saver and didn’t pay any shipping costs. Super Saver means you wait 5-7 days.

Looks like Amazon Grocery might serve as a (very) small supplement to our existing shopping. It’s a long way and a lot of products away from being any kind of significant supplement for our family of five. Have you looked around? See much there you’d be interested in buying for your family? Those who are into organic stuff might groove on some of Amazon’s Groceries.

Did this post make you go hmm?

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