Look out, Costco: Amazon is coming for you. Amazon it working on a new business called Pantry, which will help the company expand further into the consumer packaged goods market. Pantry’s set to launch sometime this year, and will be aimed at existing members of Amazon Prime. Launching with around 2,000 products you can normally find in grocery stores – like cleaning supplies, canned goods and beverages – Pantry will let you put as many items as you can into a set-sized box, up to a specific weight. The consumer packaged goods market is a massive industry in the U.S., and Amazon is looking to mark its territory. Online retailers have struggled to break into the market in the past, because a pack of Coke cans, for example, costs you as much as it costs Amazon to ship them to you. Encouraging you to put multiple items in a single box should help Amazon cover the shipping cost and get you what you need on the cheap.
About Shelly Palmer
Shelly Palmer is the Professor of Advanced Media in Residence at Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and CEO of The Palmer Group, a consulting practice that helps Fortune 500 companies with technology, media and marketing. Named LinkedIn’s “Top Voice in Technology,” he covers tech and business for Good Day New York, is a regular commentator on CNN and writes a popular daily business blog. He's a bestselling author, and the creator of the popular, free online course, Generative AI for Execs. Follow @shellypalmer or visit shellypalmer.com.