Amazon ventures into meal delivery service, testing begins in Seattle this week

The Amazon.com, Inc. logo is seen on the side of a delivery truck in Brooklyn, New York October 23, 2014. Amazon.com Inc is expected to report a third-quarter loss of 74 cents per share and provide an outlook for the upcoming holiday shopping quarter. Reuters/Brendan McDermid

With the vision of dominating every aspect of the American consumers’ lives, online retailer Amazon disclosed its newest venture into the food-delivery service industry this week, the company announced Tuesday. The new service, done via the Prime Now app, will launch in its hometown of Seattle.

Amazon is testing its food delivery service areas for its Prime Now members, which is available only in 10 U.S. cities, including Seattle, Oregon and Portland. Currently, Prime Now offers a one-hour delivery on orders for $7.99 or two-hour delivery for free. It is a $99-a year program with free two-day shipping and access to music and video streaming.

The service takes advantage of Amazon Prime’s existing delivery system to bring restaurant meals to its customers. According to TechCrunch , customers will be able to browse menus and place orders with "dozens" of participating local restaurants through the company's Prime Now app and have their food within an hour or less.

At launch, Prime Now is in cooperation with local restaurants including Wild Ginger, Skillet, Cactus, Café Yumm, Marination Station, Re:public, Ten Mercer, Mamnoon and many more. The service primarily relies on its network of Amazon employees and contractors with cars and bicycles for drop offs for now.

Users who want to try the new service can check if the Amazon Prime Now will have delivery services to a specific postcode. This can be done and checked via the app. With the new service still at testing phase, delivery on the orders are still for free for a limited time. Customers can also pay while accessing the existing information in their Amazon accounts.

Although the giant retail company hinted on market expansion, it is not confirmed yet. The Amazon Restaurants division in New York, which is an offshoot of Amazon Local, also includes staff from the food-delivery operation. Amazon’s Prime Now will enter into healthy competition with a lot of new and startup food businesses, including GrubHub, UberEats, Postmates Groupon’s Go To Service and more, particularly those that operate via food-delivery apps.