Amazon is currently testing a new grocery subscription for members of its Prime program.

The mentioned e-commerce giant announced the launch of a new subscription solution last Thursday, December 7. The company also announced another adjustment of the offers of online supermarkets included in its ownership structure.

Prime program members will have access to unlimited food delivery services from Whole Foods and Amazon Fresh for a monthly fee of $9.99. But in this case, the delivery offer is activated only if an order is placed for more than $35. Also, as part of this consumer-oriented solution, the e-commerce giant’s customers will have access to a 30-minute food pickup. In this case, the size of the order does not matter.

As part of the initial testing phase, the e-commerce giant’s new service will be launched in Denver, Colorado; Sacramento, California; and Columbus, Ohio.

Tony Hoggett, who is the head of Amazon’s physical store business, says that the company is always experimenting with features to make the shopping process faster, more convenient, and affordable, separately noting that the firm is waiting for feedback from consumers who will take advantage of the new offer.

The e-commerce giant expects that Prime members will decide on an additional monthly fee for the delivery of fresh food without additional fees for the provision of this service. In the United States, the cost of subscribing to this Amazon corporate membership program is $139 per year. In this case, consumers are provided with the benefits of interacting with the e-commerce giant, such as free fast delivery and access to the streaming video platform. An additional subscription to grocery stores can potentially increase the volume of food orders among Prime members and speed up the process of providing this service.

In recent years, Amazon has increased the threshold of free delivery. This decision affected Fresh and Whole Foods orders. The threshold was raised amid rising consumer spending. In October of the current year, the e-commerce giant revised this decision. Amazon has reduced the free fresh food delivery threshold for orders over $100. Before that, the mentioned indicator was at the level of $ 150.

In 2021, Amazon introduced a $10 service charge for Whole Foods delivery orders for Prime members.

The e-commerce giant is determined to establish itself as a grocery destination for shoppers. In 2017, the company acquired Whole Foods Market. The value of this transaction amounted to $ 13.7 billion. After that, the e-commerce giant launched its supermarket chain. Over time, the company took action to unify its online and brick-and-mortar grocery operations. In November, the e-commerce giant launched a food delivery service for non-Prime customers in the United States. This preliminary proposal has been tested in several cities.

Also this week, it became known that Amazon has sued an international gang of thieves who stole goods worth several million dollars from the company through scams related to the procedure of withdrawal of funds. In its lawsuit, the e-commerce giant notes that the organization REKK was implicated in the specified crimes.

As we have reported earlier, Amazon Announces AI Chatbot for Businesses.