Amazon’s Grocery Delivery Service, AmazonFresh, May Launch In SF Next Week

What’s better than drones delivering your stuff?

Drones delivering your food*.

According to ATD, Amazon may be ready to announce the San Francisco launch of AmazonFresh, the online retailer’s grocery delivery service, on December 10.

As it stands now, Amazon is already running the AmazonFresh program in Seattle (the company’s home base) and Los Angeles. Alongside ATD’s unnamed sources, there is additional evidence pointing toward the forthcoming SF launch.

SF folks have spotted AmazonFresh trucks in the wild, and we’ve even come across a job posting.

Users are already enjoying buying non-fresh grocery items on Amazon, and some even get two-day delivery with an Amazon Prime membership. AmazonFresh, on the other hand, will offer users fresh items like produce, meats, milk, etc. with either same- or next-day delivery. Pretty sweet, huh?

For existing members of the AmazonFresh program, the service costs $299/year.

Amazon may not make amazing margins in grocery delivery, but the move makes sense considering that Amazon wants to own the entire shopping experience, from electronics to clothes to household essentials and back again.

The more users Amazon can wrangle into a membership, such as Prime or AmazonFresh, the more opportunities Amazon has to sell those members items they wouldn’t normally get. If you pay a relatively high yearly fee for free delivery from a retailer, you’ll make sure to use that retailer for as much as possible. Gotta get your money’s worth.

Groceries are a great factor in this strategy as… well, a girl’s gotta eat.

*And, to be clear, AmazonFresh in San Francisco will not come with drone delivery.