First pilot in California
Groceries have been a part of Amazon’s product range for quite a while, but it mainly focused on home delivery up until now. This new formula would give customers the option to pick up their groceries themselves, which is a step towards the traditional supermarkets, which have been using this system for quite some time now.
Amazon’s first drive-in would open in Sunnyvale, California. A local realtor is already building such a project, although it has not been made official that Amazon would use that location despite several sources claiming chances are that will actually be the case.
eBay halts eBay Now
At the same time, eBay announced it will stop its eBay Now service, which was available in several American cities and was designed to deliver online groceries from local stores to a customer’s doorstep within a few hours. It will now be scrapped entirely, after its mobile application had already been pulled several months ago. The e-tailer says it is now looking for opportunities that are more relevant to all of its customers.
It is highly likely eBay just could not handle Amazon’s competition, as the latter has invested a lot in same-day delivery over the past few months, a service it gives its Amazon Prime subscribers for free.
