Connecticut’s online grocery delivery and pickup market has a fresh player.
Amazon on Wednesday announced the expansion of its grocery delivery and pickup service of Whole Foods Market goods through Prime Now in Hartford and Stamford.
The grocery delivery service was also expanded in Providence, New Mexico, Alabama, Idaho, South Carolina, Colorado, Kansas and Utah. It was also broadened in neighborhoods in Boston and Cincinnati.
Launched earlier this year, delivery from Whole Foods Market is now available in 63 cities nationwide and will continue expanding through year-end.
Under the service, Prime members place orders via the Prime Now app and choose the pickup option at checkout. Customers can choose free pickup in as little as an hour on orders of $35, or in 30 minutes for $4.99. Stores have designated parking spots for pickup orders and a Prime Now shopper will carry groceries into a customer’s car within minutes.
Pickup from Whole Foods is available daily from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. and delivery until 10 p.m.
Amazon also expanded delivery services for Prime members in Hartford on Tuesday.
The Amazon-Whole Foods Market delivery service arrives in Connecticut as more investments are being made in online grocery delivery, creating demand for order fillers and drivers.
In Connecticut, Stop & Shop’s Peapod delivery service employs 200 delivery drivers and another 400 employees in five warerooms across the state. Retail giant Target Corp. and its newly acquired subsidiary Shipt also began same-day delivery service for over 2 million Connecticut households in August.
San Francisco-based Instacart also offers same-day delivery in select Connecticut areas, including Hartford, from Costco, Price Chopper, Stew Leonard’s, Whole Foods and others.
But despite companies upping their grocery delivery footprint, and the grocery industry growing to a $648 billion market, online orders still represent less than 5 percent of that revenue, industry estimates show.
