Amazon announced Thursday it will test an unlimited grocery delivery subscription for Prime members, the latest in a series of shakeups to the mega-retailer’s grocery arm. The pilot program allows for unlimited deliveries from Whole Foods (which is owned by Amazon) and Amazon Fresh on orders of more than $35. It also includes speedy 30-minute pickup on orders of any size.
The test offering will roll out initially in Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California and Columbus, Ohio to gauge the viability of and interest in Amazon’s subscription add-on.
Just last month, Amazon made Amazon Fresh available to non-Prime members for the first time. And in October, the company lowered its free grocery delivery threshold to $100 (previously $150) and changed the fee structure.
Is Amazon Prime grocery delivery worth it?
So will an unlimited no-fee grocery delivery subscription be worth it? Currently, Prime subscribers pay $6.95 for each order of $50 to $100 and $9.95 for those under $50. (Shoppers who don’t subscribe to Prime pay $7.95 and $13.95, depending on the order size and delivery window.)
The average weekly grocery spend for a family of three or four easily tops $100, which would already qualify it for free delivery. For singles, couples with no children and for those who tend to prefer smaller orders but to make them more frequently, Amazon’s new unlimited delivery program might make financial sense and allow for impulse orders without delivery fees adding up.
In general, grocery delivery is still more expensive than shopping in person when you factor in fees and tipping, but not by much. We compared the cost of 39 typical groceries when ordered from Amazon Fresh, FreshDirect and bought in person at Stop & Shop. The totals were remarkably similar.
We also crunched the numbers to see if meal kits were cheaper than buying the same groceries needed to make the meal from a supermarket. The results surprised even us.