Amazon crafts new grocery offerings

E-commerce giant Amazon is plotting a new grocery business in the US. The online retail giant is planning to strengthen its supermarket brand by purchasing local grocery chains that operate at least a dozen stores, the report claims.

The first store is expected to open in Los Angeles by the end of the year, with leases signed for two more locations, set to open by early 2020. The business is in talks to bring the grocery stores to shopping malls in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C. and Philadelphia.

Amazon, which bought the healthy supermarket chain Whole Foods for $13.7 billion in 2017, had “ambitions in this space” for a long time.

Amazon’s big rival, Walmart has already been preparing for a battle with the retail giant, the source said. Walmart is introducing grocery pickup at 3,100 stores by next January and will also offer grocery delivery from about 800 more stores by the end of 2019.