Amazon takes further aim at the grocery market with expanded 30-minute delivery

An important development from the financial markets: Now arriving: an Amazon order at your doorstep in the time it takes to watch a "Cheers" rerun. The e-commerce giant has expanded the reach of its ultra-fast service delivery service Amazon Now, which brings thousands of grocery, household essentials and other items tailored for local markets to customers in about 30 minutes or less. The service is now live in cities including Atlanta, the Dallas Fort-Worth area, Philadelphia, and Seattle.

It plans to expand to dozens more including Austin, Houston, Phoenix, and Denver, reaching tens of millions of customers by the end of the year. Amazon Now caters to items that "customers need urgently," according to the company, including fresh produce like vegetables, eggs, and dairy, as well as daily personal care, and electronics. The service carries a $3.

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99 fee for Prime members, or $13. 99 for non-members, plus additional fees for orders under $15. Amazon Prime costs $14.

99 per month, or $139 annually. To make 30-minute delivery feasible, Amazon uses smaller fulfillment centers strategically located close to where customers live. The expansion builds on Amazon's efforts to reduce delivery times and increase convenience for shoppers, particularly for commonly purchased grocery items — all with the goal of making a Prime membership indispensable and reinforcing the "flywheel" that investors love.

In mid-March, Amazon announced one- and three-hour delivery in certain U. areas for over 90,000 products including everyday essentials and items typically found in a local supercenter. These delivery options are currently more widely available than 30-minute Amazon Now.

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The one-hour option is accessible in hundreds of cities and towns; the three-hour service covers over 2,000 locales. In August of last year, Amazon announced a broad rollout of same-day grocery delivery . On the physical grocery side, Amazon this year pulled the plug on its Amazon Fresh and Go stores and instead is leaning into the Whole Foods banner.

Amazon also keeps layering additional services on top of its already massive logistics network. Just last week, Amazon launched a new business called Amazon Supply Chain Services that opens up its fulfillment network, including freight, warehousing and delivery to third-party businesses. The market has warmed to Amazon in recent weeks.

The stock is up over 30% since its Iran wartime bottom on March 27, far ahead of the S & P 500's roughly 17% advance in the same period. Shares have rallied about 14% year to date, compared with the S & P 500's 8. That makes Amazon the second-best performing megacap tech stock in 2026 behind Google parent Alphabet, which is up 27%.

Financial markets are tracking the development closely as investors assess the likely impact.