The pandemic had many more people turn to the internet to take care of typical chores or tasks — grocery shopping included. But it can be worrisome to think about the state of your packages if they’re ever delivered when you’re not home. And unless they’re protected in an outdoor safe, they’re prone to get stolen or ruined by the rain or bad weather.
Amazon wants to help its customers with this problem by making sure their packages are dropped off in a safe place — the garage. Customers can now instruct to have their deliveries be left inside their garages. To do so, a Wi-Fi-enabled or smart garage door opener should be configured to work with the Key app by Amazon. Prime subscribers will be able to select “Key delivery” when they check out on Whole Foods or Amazon Fresh.
When the delivery arrives, the driver will use a hand-held Amazon scanner to be granted one-time access to the customer’s garage. There will be real-time notifications sent as the drop-off happens.
Amazon has recently been exerting effort into expanding into the grocery sector. Online grocery shopping became a necessity over the last year as people tried to avoid going out to stores. Amazon predicts that because of the convenience, a lot of people will continue to shop online even when social distancing measures are more relaxed.
“Grocery is certainly a center strategy for Amazon right now, as part of its overall strategic vision of being more present in customers’ lives and being part of customers’ everyday routine,” said Rachel Dalton, director with Kantar Consulting’s eCommerce team. “Amazon is competing effectively in grocery, even though you may not think of Amazon as a grocer.
The company had already been testing the service since last year but will now be rolling out the service to anyone who has access to Amazon’s groceries. With Amazon acquiring Whole Foods four years ago, Amazon began opening up more Amazon Fresh locations so that more customers have access to their grocery service. The company also hopes with more locations, more customers will turn to the platform regularly for their grocery needs.