Bulletins

Amazon might start competing with Instacart on grocery delivery

Amazon is reportedly experimenting with an ultra-fast delivery service for groceries.

Amazon Fresh storefront

Amazon is experimenting with a same-day grocery delivery system that would be an Instacart competitor.

Photo: Toby Scott/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

Amazon is experimenting with an ultra-fast delivery service model for groceries in the United Kingdom and the U.S., gearing up to compete with Instacart, DoorDash and Uber, The Information reports.

The company has been hiring for several management positions for people who would help shape a two-hour-or-less grocery delivery system, according to the report.

Amazon is just the latest in a string of players to enter the ultra-fast delivery market. While two-hour delivery may now be traditional for companies like Instacart and DoorDash, at least six delivery companies, including DoorDash, entered the 15-minute-or-less delivery space for convenience items in Manhattan in the last year. With Amazon planning to jump into the two-hour mix, Instacart and DoorDash face stiff competition at both ends of the "ultra-fast" delivery market.

Executives at DoorDash, Gorillas and other delivery companies told Protocol that the competition for ultra-fast delivery continues to increase because consumers continuously expect their goods to arrive faster and demand convenience.

“The pandemic has sort of shown that this quick-delivery model is something that people want, and now it’s starting to really heat up in the U.S," Adam Wacenske, Gorillas’ head of U.S. operations, said.

Anna Kramer

Anna Kramer is a reporter at Protocol (Twitter: @ anna_c_kramer, email: akramer@protocol.com), where she writes about labor and workplace issues. Prior to joining the team, she covered tech and small business for the San Francisco Chronicle and privacy for Bloomberg Law. She is a recent graduate of Brown University, where she studied International Relations and Arabic and wrote her senior thesis about surveillance tools and technological development in the Middle East.

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