Amazon Prime Members Can Now Shop For Groceries With Addition Of Pantry Service

prime A month after announcing its first-ever price hike to its Amazon Prime subscription service, the online retailer is finally launching Prime Pantry, a new bulk grocery shopping addition to Prime that Amazon hopes will justify that additional cost for some customers.

Amazon officially launched the grocery service on Wednesday. Sure, consumers have long been able to purchase items like toilet paper, cleaning supplies and certain other household goods from Amazon, but the new service allows for a wider range of products such as pasta sauce and pop.

Consumerist first reported that Amazon was tossing around the idea of Prime Pantry back in December and the officially launched service appears to operate much like it was first described.

Prime members can shop from more than 2,000 products to fill a four-cubic foot box with up to 45 pounds of goods. As items are ordered a virtual Prime Pantry box is filled to track available space.

The package can then be shipped for $5.99 plus the cost of the items. While delivery time may vary, consumers can expect to receive their packages in 1 to 4 business days, the Wall Street Journal reports.

At first glance the products seem to be in line with those found at grocery stores. A 24-pack of Arrowhead Spring Water cost $3.98, while a can of Chicken of the Sea Tuna is prices at $0.84.

Prime Pantry is just one product Amazon has launched in attempts to make grocery shopping on Amazon a thing.

Earlier this month, the company unveiled Amazon Dash, a device that consumers can talk into or use to scan groceries and other household items to add the products to their grocery list. However, that list is only good for AmazonFresh, which is only being tested in Southern California, San Francisco and Seattle.

Amazon Prime ‘Pantry’ Service Seeks to Slim Down Bulk Ordering [Wall Street Journal]

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