Seven years after its launch, Amazon plans to discontinue the Prime Now app for fast delivery of grocery and other goods, folding it into its main Amazon app and website by the end of 2021, the company said. Amazon said the same level of same-day delivery service, in many cases two hours, will continue for Prime members.
When it comes to the grocery wars, Walmart execs are concerned about the company’s tenuous number one position as well as losing share to fierce competitors, according to brutal self-assessments in a leaked memo and presentation from February obtained by Recode. There are also worries that Instacart is pulling even on e-grocery.
Now that the challenges of the lockdown era are behind, and disruptions have solidified into new consumer behaviors and business practices, what’s next for ecommerce operations? In our annual MCM Outlook report, we talk to retail leaders and industry experts to drill down into how companies are faring and what’s working.
Amazon has increased its capital expenditures by 80% in the past year, including continuing expansion of Amazon Logistics such as new cargo planes, trailers and linehaul trucks and adding to its massive Delivery Service Partner (DSP) program. All told, Amazon has increased its logistics capacity by 50% in the past year alone.
The USPS announced a number of measures aimed at addressing peak season surges later this year, after it got buried in a deluge of holiday parcels in November and December, many of them handed off from UPS and FedEx. This includes 138 new pieces of sortation equipment and replacing mail sorting equipment at 18 facilities.
Amazon is expanding its Amazon Key program, which lets its delivery drivers access a Prime customer’s garage to drop off orders, to more than 5,000 U.S. cities and towns, wherever its grocery delivery services are available from Amazon Fresh or Whole Foods Market. The program, free to Prime members, was first tested three years ago.
Walmart and Target both announced plans Thursday to improve last-mile fulfillment and delivery from their stores, taking alternate routes via an investment in self-driving car project Cruise, and a new sortation facility powered by acquired technologies from Grand Junction and Deliv, respectively.
AxleHire, a last-mile solutions company powering delivery for HelloFresh, Deliverr, Freshly and Pet Food Express, has closed a $20M funding round aimed at increasing its sortation capabilities, expanding its network and moving more into general ecommerce. It also hopes to create a national network to compete with regional carriers.
The National Labor Relations Board has accused Amazon of illegally firing two tech workers last year who spoke out publicly about its treatment of fulfillment workers and its sustainability policies, and upheld a complaint by a worker who led a Queens, NY walkout in 2020. Amazon also apologized for a tweet attacking a political critic.
It’s an open question whether Louis DeJoy will survive in his highly politicized position as Postmaster General long enough to see the wide-ranging reforms he wants to enact realized, or at least started. Considering the critical importance of the USPS, with its every-ZIP-every-door-every-day mandate, a lot hangs in the balance.