Amazon courts food shoppers
NEW YORK (AP) — Amazon wants you to order your turkey, stuffing and cranberry sauce online this Thanksgiving — its latest effort to make its Prime subscription service a central part of food shopping, much the way it's done for other consumer goods.
Amazon started its grocery delivery business around its home town of Seattle, and has since expanded to about 18 cities and regions, including London and New York.
Amazon has been continuously adding services to its Prime loyalty program, which offers free two-day shipping on many items and boasts an estimated 65 million members (Amazon does not disclose the figure).
Adding services like grocery delivery and original video programming costs money, but Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos says it's worth it because Prime members spend more at Amazon.
[...] people that watch Prime Instant Video, for example, are more likely to convert from free trials to paid Prime membership, and are more likely to renew their Prime membership in subsequent years, he said.
After posting little-to-no profit for years each quarter as it invested in its business, Amazon has begun to balance spending with revenue more prudently and has reported a profit in each of the past five quarters.