By Laura Stevens 

Amazon.com Inc. on Tuesday said it was launching a new grocery-store pickup service, pushing deeper into brick-and-mortar retail as it moves to capture more of what people spend on food.

The service, called AmazonFresh Pickup, will be available to customers who are part of Amazon's membership program Prime. For now, the service's two locations in Seattle are open only to employees.

AmazonFresh Pickup will allow customers to choose from thousands of items online and reserve a time for pickup, according to the company. Orders will be ready in as little as 15 minutes, and there is no minimum-order limit. Amazon will select the food, bag it and deliver it to customers' vehicles.

Amazon already offers grocery delivery via its Fresh service. The new Pickup stores are designed to target customers who prefer to pick up groceries on their way home from work. The move should allow Amazon to compete more directly with grocery stores and Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which recently has been expanding its own pickup sites.

The new service is Amazon's latest foray into physical stores. The company opened a convenience-style store in Seattle called Go, but it has faced technological problems as the company develops a location without lines or cashiers. Amazon also has five bookstores, with five more announced, and about 30 mall pop-up stores.

The Wall Street Journal previously reported Amazon was planning pickup grocery locations.

Write to Laura Stevens at laura.stevens@wsj.com

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

March 28, 2017 11:03 ET (15:03 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2017 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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