Amazon Fresh

[mamster]

There are three supermarkets within six blocks of my house, so I have no good reason to order from Amazon Fresh, unless you count the fact that none of the supermarkets carry Green & Black's ice cream. Anyway, it's a new toy and I'm in the delivery area, so I had to try it.

It's a lot of fun. The shopping interface is pretty good, although I'd love to see them allow reviews (I want to write a really angry negative review of a red delicious apple!) and, more seriously, show me "people who bought this also bought."

They're including a free produce sampler with every order. It's not a very well thought-out assortment. Along with some apples (fine) and an Anjou pear (probably not very good, but I'll taste it when it's ripe), there's a pretty, tasteless hothouse red pepper, some mediocre navel oranges, and a package of that Broccoli Wokly brand broccoli in a bag. I threw some in with my Mac and Cheese at lunch and it was noticeably stale. I mentioned this to Iris and she said, "Then why do they call it Amazon Fresh?"

But the produce I ordered is just fine. Cilantro, 49 cents. Honeycrisp apples, $1. Limes, 29 cents. English cucumber, $1. Bananas were something like 29 cents per banana. Meat is also generally inexpensive. Other items are at or above supermarket prices.

There are weird holes in their inventory. They had sweet pickle relish but not dill.

Their delivery area seems to cover many random parts of Seattle at this point, so put in your address at the site if you want to try it.

Tipping is not allowed.

Anything else you'd like to know?

[cxt]

What's the minimum purchase for free delivery? That was what prevented me from using HomeGrocer (even though my sister was their comptroller and I owned stock). This is moot for me, because they don't deliver to Fremont; there is a pickup location that I can literally see from my apartment, but it is only for Google employees.

What delivery option did you use? If you choose the predawn drop-off and you live in a secured building, do they just leave it outside the building? What if someone steals it before you wake up (a definite possibility in my neighborhood)?

[mamster]

Ah, I should have mentioned this. The minimum for free delivery is $25 unattended, $50 attended. The unattended delivery is available only if they have access to the front door of your unit--you can't do unattended delivery to a secure building. So that's why I won't be ordering again: sometimes I buy $25 worth of groceries, but I never buy $50 worth unless I'm playing with a new web site.

Delivery charge is $10.

[vengroff]

I've ordered from Amazon Fresh a few times. It's particularly good for large bulky items. However, I agree with mamster that the free produce bag was underwhelming and didn't inspire me to order more produce from them. The red pepper they sent me was already drying up and the clementines were rather flavorless. On the whole, I'd say they completely missed their goal of sending free produce to convince customers that they have the same quality you'd get if you hand-picked your own at a traditional supermarket. And it's certainly nowhere near what you can get at a farmers' market or Sosio's at Pike Place.

But the thing that they really seem to have missed on is selection. One of the great things about Amazon.com is that you can find just about anything. But Amazon Fresh seems to have a thinner catalog than the average QFC.

For example, I wanted something to braise since the weather has been so cold and wet. I searched for short ribs and was surprised they don't stock them. How about lamb shanks? Nope. Veal shanks? Sorry, no veal at all. I didn't bother looking beyond that for things like beef cheeks or pork belly.

In the produce department I had similar bad luck. No fennel. I searched for shallots and found them, but they were listed as being out of stock. Again, these are things you can find in any QFC any day of the week.

Seafood? My first search was monkfish. They stock farmed salmon and tilapia, and some tuna steaks, but not a lot more. There are no bivalves beyond frozen scallops. I searched for sea bass and was asked, "did you mean sea bags?'" I didn't, but I clicked the link anyway.

"Sorry," the site replied, "but there were no results for your query."

Anyway, I'm sure I'll continue to order from them. But it will mostly be to stock up on pantry and dairy items--they do carry King Arthur, Bob's Red Mill, and Plugra--and bulky items like spring water and cat litter. The fresh part just isn't quite there yet.

On the positive side, the pre-dawn delivery worked very well for me. When I picked up the paper on the front porch there were some bright plastic bins filled with the items I ordered the night before.

[Disclaimer: I used to work at Amazon.com and currently work with a former executive at Home Grocer, but the opinions above are strictly my own.]

Edited December 24, 2007 by vengroff (log)

[mamster]

I am currently braising a flank steak I got from Amazon Fresh, but I'm making ropa vieja; I wouldn't usually braise flank steak.