Amazon’s same-day grocery delivery service launches in NYC

Amazon is beginning to launch its same-day grocery delivery service, Amazon Fresh, in New York, with service to one Brooklyn neighborhood starting today. Recode reports that the service will begin in Park Slope, a generally well-off neighborhood associated with city parents, and that Amazon intends to expand to elsewhere in Brooklyn from there. Amazon doesn’t say whether it’ll be launching in Manhattan, but same-day grocery delivery has long been a field that web companies have tried to crack — and should its experiments in Brooklyn succeed, there’s no doubt that Amazon will keep pushing forward.

Amazon’s grocery delivery business is launching in New York City on Friday, the company said, bringing the service to the East Coast for the first time, as the retail giant aggressively pursues a cut of the $600 billion grocery industry. The service, known as Amazon Fresh, will only be available in the Brooklyn neighborhood of Park Slope to start, before expanding to other neighborhoods in the borough, according to the company. Park Slope is a popular area for young professional families and is likely to have a healthy number of Amazon customers. A spokeswoman declined to say when the service might be available in other parts of New York City, including Manhattan. The announcement comes almost a month after Re/code first reported Amazon would be bringing the service to New York as early as October. Amazon Fresh customers in the city who place orders before 10 am will receive deliveries later that same day; orders placed after that time will be delivered the following day. The service is known mainly for groceries, but also offers thousands of other items such as electronics and toys that are available for same-day delivery as well.