Amazon will soon start selling own-brand food
Amazon is reportedly set to commence selling its own private-label food brands, among other things.
It’s been a year since we first reported on claims that Amazon wanted to emulate the major supermarkets in offering own-branded groceries.
Now Amazon’s plans appear to be close to fruition. According to The Wall Street Journal (which also carried that original report), the the online retailer will start rolling out its new product lines some time this month or early June.
It seems the new Amazon brands will include such consumables as nuts, spices, tea, coffee, baby food and vitamins, alongside regular household items like diapers and laundry detergents.
We even know what some of the brands will be called: Happy Belly, Wickedly Prime and Mama Bear are among the selection. The report claims that Amazon will only offer these own-brand goods to Prime members, offering an extra incentive to splash out on a year’s subscription.
While the report doesn’t spell it out, it seems pretty likely that this will be a US-only initiative for starters. That’s generally how Amazon introduces its new schemes, with the UK generally following some way down the line as its second market.
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Still, we can’t imagine that Amazon will hang about too long before expanding its own-brand offering. After all, the ultimate goal in doing this is higher profit margins on popular products, as well as developing unique products that aren’t currently available elsewhere.
Amazon is also set to bring its Amazon Fresh grocery delivery service to the UK any day now, if reports are to be believed, so the structure will be in place if and when it chooses to give the green light on on-brand goods.
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These aren’t Amazon’s first own-brand goods, of course. It already sells hundreds of own-branded items in electronics and fashion.