Amazon’s ‘Prime Now’ one-hour delivery service now includes frozen, chilled food

BY TAYLOR SOPER on April 20, 2015 at 10:45 am

Amazon is now delivering refrigerated and frozen groceries outside of itsAmazon Fresh program.

The company’s “Prime Now” one-hour delivery service now includes items like bacon, yogurt, cheese, milk, and frozen berries for customers in New York City who can access a ‘Frozen & Chilled’ section via the Prime Now mobile app.

“Prime Now,” available to Amazon Prime members who pay a $99/year fee, offers one-hour delivery for $7.99 and two-hour delivery for free. Prime Now initially launched in Manhattan five months ago and soon after rolled out in Brooklyn. It also became available in Baltimore, Miami, and Dallas in March before arriving in Atlanta and Austin earlier this month.

Prime Now, accessed via a mobile app for iOS and Android, offers Prime members a way to have “daily essential” items like paper towels and shampoo arrive at their door within 60 minutes of ordering.

Now, Amazon is including cold and frozen grocery items as part of its one-hour delivery service. The company said orange juice is the most popular chilled item delivered to customers thus far in NYC.

Prime Now is part of an ongoing effort by Amazon to boost Amazon Prime benefits and cover the “last mile” of delivery, an initiative that also includes the Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service, which started in Seattle before rolling out to other cities across the country.

Amazon Fresh, meanwhile, is only available in Seattle, San Francisco, Los Angeles, San Diego, Philadelphia, and New York. Amazon started expanding that service in 2013 following a multi-year test program in Seattle that began in 2009.

With Amazon Fresh and now Prime Now, Amazon competes with several other grocery delivery companies offering service in New York City like Instacart, FreshDirect, WunWun, and Postmates.