3 ms·

I don't see Amazon buying Instacart. I also didn't see Amazon buying Whole Foods. Maybe Walmart saves this sinking ship.

dawnerd 9y ago
Amazon does have Prime Now which does close to the same thing instacart does. I could see it making a lot of sense to buying them out to get all those extra markets.
- djsumdog 9y ago
  Prime is not the same as Instacart. You can't get ice cream or tine sensitiveness orders with Prime. You're thinking of Amazon Fresh, their grocery delivery service, which is in fewer markets than Instacart (as started in the article, 20 vs 69 cities).
  - jdauriemma 9y ago
    IIRC, Prime Now sells some groceries and essentials with two-hour delivery. It's a last-mile service not unlike Instacart.
    - jen20 9y ago
      It does it with an inside-one-hour window in some places, including groceries. I use it frequently.
    - dawnerd 9y ago
      And it's included with a prime subscription. No percent or delivery fee markups. There's also restaurants in some areas.
  - twblalock 9y ago
    I can get ice cream delivered within an hour on Prime where I live. I can also get groceries, booze, restaurant food, shoes and clothing, etc. Amazon sends people to buy the products from local businesses and deliver them.
    - baddox 9y ago
      I find it odd that Prime Now has alcohol, but Fresh does not. There are several other differences in what is offered. It's confusing why there's a separation, and why I should pay $15 a month for Fresh while Prime Now charges a smaller fee per delivery. Heck, it's even confusing why they separate normal Amazon shopping. If I add an item to my normal cart that is also available on Prime Now (or Fresh), why wouldn't they tell me?
      - dawnerd 9y ago
        There's no fee for prime now, just an optional tip which is probably why amazon doesn't use prime now on their normal site.
      - jlarocco 9y ago
        > I find it odd that Prime Now has alcohol, but Fresh does not. Maybe not so odd. Some states (Colorado, at least) have laws preventing grocery stores from selling alcohol, or severely limiting what they can sell. I could see offering it through Fresh complicating things.
        baddox 9y ago
        Would the legal difference only be that Fresh is marketed as grocery delivery? As far as I know, Fresh and Prime Now are both delivered from local warehouses by Amazon's own couriers.
        twblalock 9y ago
        I'd bet there are at least 50 legal differences in the 50 US states. For example, grocery stores in California can sell alcohol, but Amazon Fresh does not -- only Prime Now does, probably because Amazon is just a middleman -- they send a driver to a licensed liquor store to buy the product and deliver it to the customer's home. I sympathize with anyone trying to sell alcohol in the United States. They have to deal with 50 different liquor law regimes in order to sell nationwide, and probably federal laws as well if the alcohol is imported.
  - dawnerd 9y ago
    "Prime Now" is what I said. https://primenow.amazon.com https://primenow.amazon.com
petra 9y ago
Walmart is working hard to winning pickup retail and already offering it in 900 stores. All they are missing is the delivery guy, and since instacart delivers using the UBER model, that isn't terribly hard, and even today they offer that via UBER. Instacrt can't offer them much.
cududa 9y ago
Back in 2015 when they were sniffing around Postmates I was extremely hopeful they'd acquire them and make "delivery" an AWS product

dawnerd 9y ago

Amazon does have Prime Now which does close to the same thing instacart does. I could see it making a lot of sense to buying them out to get all those extra markets.

djsumdog 9y ago
Prime is not the same as Instacart. You can't get ice cream or tine sensitiveness orders with Prime. You're thinking of Amazon Fresh, their grocery delivery service, which is in fewer markets than Instacart (as started in the article, 20 vs 69 cities).
- jdauriemma 9y ago
  IIRC, Prime Now sells some groceries and essentials with two-hour delivery. It's a last-mile service not unlike Instacart.
  - jen20 9y ago
    It does it with an inside-one-hour window in some places, including groceries. I use it frequently.
  - dawnerd 9y ago
    And it's included with a prime subscription. No percent or delivery fee markups. There's also restaurants in some areas.
- twblalock 9y ago
  I can get ice cream delivered within an hour on Prime where I live. I can also get groceries, booze, restaurant food, shoes and clothing, etc. Amazon sends people to buy the products from local businesses and deliver them.
  - baddox 9y ago
    I find it odd that Prime Now has alcohol, but Fresh does not. There are several other differences in what is offered. It's confusing why there's a separation, and why I should pay $15 a month for Fresh while Prime Now charges a smaller fee per delivery. Heck, it's even confusing why they separate normal Amazon shopping. If I add an item to my normal cart that is also available on Prime Now (or Fresh), why wouldn't they tell me?
    - dawnerd 9y ago
      There's no fee for prime now, just an optional tip which is probably why amazon doesn't use prime now on their normal site.
    - jlarocco 9y ago
      > I find it odd that Prime Now has alcohol, but Fresh does not. Maybe not so odd. Some states (Colorado, at least) have laws preventing grocery stores from selling alcohol, or severely limiting what they can sell. I could see offering it through Fresh complicating things.
      - baddox 9y ago
        Would the legal difference only be that Fresh is marketed as grocery delivery? As far as I know, Fresh and Prime Now are both delivered from local warehouses by Amazon's own couriers.
        twblalock 9y ago
        I'd bet there are at least 50 legal differences in the 50 US states. For example, grocery stores in California can sell alcohol, but Amazon Fresh does not -- only Prime Now does, probably because Amazon is just a middleman -- they send a driver to a licensed liquor store to buy the product and deliver it to the customer's home. I sympathize with anyone trying to sell alcohol in the United States. They have to deal with 50 different liquor law regimes in order to sell nationwide, and probably federal laws as well if the alcohol is imported.
- dawnerd 9y ago
  "Prime Now" is what I said. https://primenow.amazon.com https://primenow.amazon.com

petra 9y ago

Walmart is working hard to winning pickup retail and already offering it in 900 stores. All they are missing is the delivery guy, and since instacart delivers using the UBER model, that isn't terribly hard, and even today they offer that via UBER. Instacrt can't offer them much.

cududa 9y ago

Back in 2015 when they were sniffing around Postmates I was extremely hopeful they'd acquire them and make "delivery" an AWS product