How groceries became some of Amazon’s most frequently purchased items

Key takeaways:

Groceries—from household essentials and pantry staples to fresh produce, dairy and meat—are among the items most frequently purchased in Amazon’s online stores.
Amazon offers broad selection of nearly 3 million grocery and household essentials, from center-of-store selection like household and beauty items and non-perishable foods, to perimeter-of-store aisles with fresh produce, dairy, and meat, all with consistently low prices.
In the first quarter of 2025, Amazon’s everyday essentials—comprising groceries and household essentials—grew more than twice as fast as all other categories in the U.S., and represented 1 out every 3 units sold.

Amazon is one of the largest grocers in the U.S., with over $100B in gross sales—even when you exclude sales from Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. But how did we get here? Over two decades ago, we started adding groceries and everyday household essentials to Amazon.com that don't require temperature control—items like bulk paper, cleaning products, large packs of canned and boxed food, and bottled drinks. Customers in big cities and rural communities alike loved the convenience of buying these items online and having them delivered quickly. So, over time we’ve lowered our cost-to-serve to cost-effectively add smaller packs of the most-purchased items, and broader selection of low-priced items. These are the items that make up the center aisles of grocery stores, such as pantry staples and snacks, pet care, health and personal care, and household goods like dish soap, paper towels, and batteries.

Amazon Fresh delivery person handing grocery bag to smiling customer at doorstep

We’ve also learned when customers are shopping for these kinds of products, they typically want them fast. That’s why over the last few years we've accelerated our delivery speeds for customers, and increasingly offer Same-Day and One-Day delivery on many items. From regionalizing our U.S. fulfilment network to store a wider selection of products close to customers, to opening more Same-Day Delivery sites which enable us to offer millions of items for delivery within hours in more than 140 metro areas nationwide, we’ve invested heavily in making Amazon the best place for customers to shop groceries and household essentials—and have these items delivered at record speed. Case in point: over 2 billion groceries and household essentials were delivered the same or next day in the U.S. in 2024—an increase of more than 50% year over year. As a result, in the first three months of 2025, our everyday essentials grew more than twice as fast as all other categories in the U.S., and represented 1 out every 3 units sold.

Today, Amazon offers nearly 3 million grocery and household essential items for delivery across the country, from New York City and Los Angeles, to Decorah, Iowa; Sitka, Alaska; and Camden, Maine. And by working to keep our costs low, we’ve consistently offered the lowest prices across the widest selection. In fact, last year Amazon was the lowest-priced retailer in the U.S. for the eighth year running, according to an independent study from Profitero, including on grocery and household essentials categories.

Man unpacking Amazon Fresh grocery delivery in bright kitchen

In addition to the shelf-stable products and household goods available on Amazon.com, Amazon has innovated and invested significantly over the past decade to deliver best-in-class selection, low prices, and convenience to make it fast, easy, and affordable for customers to shop groceries through Amazon. Tens of millions of customers turn to Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market for their full-service grocery needs. And, customers in more than 3,500 cities and towns across the U.S. can use the Amazon website or mobile app to shop groceries across Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and local grocery and specialty retailers at great prices for convenient delivery and pickup. And, Prime members get unlimited grocery delivery on orders over $35 with a $9.99 monthly or $99.99 yearly grocery delivery subscription—a benefit that pays for itself in as little as one delivery order per month.

Amazon also has a large and growing physical grocery store business with Whole Foods Market and Amazon Fresh. Whole Food Market has expanded to more than 535 locations nationwide, and Amazon Fresh has more than 60 stores. We’ve recently redesigned many of our Amazon Fresh stores, and customers are responding: The average monthly customer spend in store has increased by more than 20%. Since the acquisition in 2017, Whole Foods Market has seen over 40% sales growth, and together Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market generated tens of billions in sales in 2024.

Smiling shopper in pink sweater browsing grocery aisle

We think there are even more ways to innovate to make shopping for groceries a seamless, convenient experience. In his 2023 CEO letter to shareholders, Andy Jassy introduced the idea of using our same-day facilities to enable customers to easily shop fresh groceries alongside millions of other products across Amazon’s 35+ categories, from books and electronics, to fashion and home and garden and, of course, center-of-store household essentials. We've already leveraged our fresh food supply chain to roll this concept out at three of our same-day facilities in Phoenix, Arizona, Orlando, Florida, and Kansas City, Missouri, and we’re seeing very positive customer feedback and response. In fact, after making a few same-day delivery orders with an assortment of items including fresh groceries, many customers have found online grocery shopping so convenient they’ve started shopping Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market for their full-service grocery needs. We’re excited to continue to expand this offering throughout 2025, giving more customers access to fresh groceries on top of the millions of items available for same-day delivery.

Amazon Prime grocery bag overflowing with fresh produce and household items

We know customers love having choice for their groceries depending on the occasion they’re shopping for, so we are also testing new experiences that make it easier for customers to shop expanded selection in one place. This includes 1) co-locating selection from Whole Foods Market, Amazon.com, and Amazon Fresh in the same fulfilment center enabling customers to shop items from all three brands and have them delivered in a single order, 2) opening a small-format grocery store under the same roof as Whole Foods Market in Chicago, letting customers shop their favorite natural and organic products at Whole Foods Market and getting a broader product assortment from Amazon in one trip, and 3) launching Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, a quick-shop store format that is fast and convenient when out and about. Read more about the ways we’re making grocery shopping faster and easier.

Providing groceries and household essentials—the items customers purchase and need most frequently—is core to our mission to make customers lives better and easier every day. While we’re already home to tens of millions of customers for their grocery shopping needs, we believe there is so much more to invent and opportunity ahead to offer even greater selection, lower prices, and more convenience to more customers in the future.

Next, read CEO Andy Jassy says he’s ‘very bullish’ on Amazon’s grocery business.