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In February, Amazon hiked the minimum purchase Amazon Prime members have to make for free grocery deliveries from $35 to $150. Last week, the threshold was lowered to $100.
Amazon said in a press release, “We’re always looking for ways to make grocery shopping easier, faster, and more affordable for our customers and this enhanced benefit does just that.”
In raising the threshold in February, Amazon said the change was made in order to hold prices down amid investments.
A $3.95 additional fee had been required for orders between $100 and $150. All other delivery fees remain the same, including $6.95 for orders of $50 to $100 and $9.95 for deliveries under $50.
An internal Amazon document attained by Business Insider stated, “We're always listening to customer feedback and looking for ways to make shopping for groceries easier, faster, and more affordable. As part of that, we continuously test our delivery models to see where we can make adjustments, and recently received positive feedback from customers when we piloted this change in select cities."
Last year, Amazon also raised the price of annual Prime memberships to $139 from $119.
Grocers continue to grapple with a variety of schemes to cover the costs of grocery delivery, especially managing logistics around perishables. Amazon Fresh’s $100 threshold remains higher than the average minimum of $35 most grocers set to qualify for free delivery.
A Walmart+ subscription ($98 a year) offers free same- or next-day grocery delivery with a minimum purchase of $35 in addition to perks such as fuel savings and access to free Paramount+ and ad-free Pluto TV.
Kroger’s Boost subscription program ($99 annually) offers free same-day delivery on grocery orders of $35 or more. Boost members okay with getting next-day delivery of their groceries only pay $59 a year.
Target’s Shipt membership offers free same-day delivery for orders over $35. Albertson's FreshPass subscription program ($12.99 monthly or $99 yearly) offers complimentary delivery for orders over $30 plus special credits and rewards tied to purchases.
Instacart, used by many grocers, charges a delivery fee of $3.99 for same-day orders over $35, but it also includes add-on fees for heavy orders, alcohol service, and long-distance driving (when a driver travels over 30 minutes), as well as a corporate service fee. Instacart+ members ($99 per year) get free delivery on orders over $35 and lower service fees.
Some grocers charge higher prices online than in store, and coupons aren’t always accessible for those choosing delivery or pickup.
A survey last year from ChaseDesign found that the number of shoppers using grocery delivery had declined 24% year over year as comfort with in-store shopping returned with pandemic concerns easing. The primary issue with grocery delivery was found to be high fees, cited by 44% of respondents in the 2022 survey versus 34% the prior year. Other complaints about home delivery included wrong or missing products (cited by 36%), quality of picked products (32%), and products arriving damaged (29%).