Amazon adds bulk sales of non-perishable food items to its menu

[mandy]

Online retailer Amazon has begun serving up soup, breakfast cereals and other basic foods on its US menu.

Amazon is now offering 2,000 basic packaged foods as part of its drive to become the number one destination for online consumers...

The focus on bulk sales of non-perishable items allows the firm to take on big US names like Wal-Mart and Costco...

Analysts have suggested that Amazon may be losing market share to traditional retailers such as Wal-Mart and Target, as well as auction sites like eBay and even search internet site Google...

full article: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/4918968.stm

[mandy]

More on Amazon's new found fascination with food:

Amazon.com, daring to tread on ground where some of the most spectacular dot-com burnouts took place, has begun selling groceries through its sprawling e-tail site. Without formally announcing the move, Amazon added a beta version of a "grocery" category, bringing to 34 the number of different product niches the onetime books-movies-and-music retailer now sells. The foray is not Amazon's first flirtation with food. The site has had a gourmet foods section for some time, selling gift baskets and other items...

"Amazon excels at customer satisfaction and providing added value in the purchasing experience," said Forrester analyst Carrie Johnson. "They're one of the best at that aspect of e-commerce."...

full article: http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/kUxI...ness.xhtml