Amazon withdraws delivering fresh groceries

Very recently, with the acquisition of Whole Foods for more than $13billion, Amazon made a giant leap into the grocery business. This move left all of us in awe. For years Amazon has been pushing into the $800 billion grocery business via its Amazon Fresh delivery business. With this Amazon competes with the likes of Instacart, FreshDirect and Google Express. So far these services have made inroads mostly in the nation’s densest cities, including New York and San Francisco. Hence it was surprising when, earlier this week, Amazon announced that it would actually be scaling back operations of its AmazonFresh grocery delivery service in at least nine states.

Customers in nine states received emails from Amazon informing them that AmazonFresh will no longer be available in their areas. Any final AmazonFresh orders in those places would have to be made by November 30. Amazon also recently shut down its wine delivery operations after having issues with liquor licenses and shipping alcohol across state lines. Amazon is reportedly still delivering wine and groceries in Tokyo, though, and recently opened a fancy pop-up bar there with live sommeliers and personalized online beverage recommendations.

As of now customers claim that they received the AmazonFresh cancellation notifications for certain zip codes in New Jersey, Massachusetts, California and Virginia. Customers in big cities like New York City, DC, Seattle, Chicago and Boston will be able to enjoy. With such a move we only have to wait and watch Amazon take on the fresh food sector.