USA Today: Amazon to launch drive-up grocery services

As if Prime Pantry, Prime Now and Amazon Fresh weren’t enough, Amazon is taking its grocery offerings up a notch with the upcoming launch of drive-up grocery hubs.

According to USA Today, three locations are allegedly in the works – in Amazon’s headquarter market of Seattle, as well as San Carlos and Sunnyvale, California. Customers can place orders online and drive to the location to pick up their groceries within a pre-selected pickup window – without getting out of the car.

Amazon has made its mark catering to customers’ desire for convenience and immediacy – with this recent news serving as its latest strategy to break deeper into the $800 billion grocery market. Other programs include Amazon Fresh, a grocery delivery service available in Seattle, California and New York City, and Prime Now, a more limited service available in 25 U.S. markets.

Amazon’s real goal with this new program is to capture more data, particularly on younger shoppers, not to increase revenue streams right off the bat – though the long-term strategy remains unclear.