Amazon quietly enters new categories

US-based Amazon is continuing to expand its product range in line with its goal to offer ‘Earth’s Biggest Selection’. It has recently added categories including fresh flowers and home automation to its amazon.com site. Amazon is offering a limited selection of flowers under the Grocery category, with free shipping to US Prime members. Previously this category had only been populated by Marketplace sellers.

Additionally, Amazon’s home automation category has been introduced to group together devices that can be remotely controlled within the home, such as entertainment and security systems. Amazon’s Director of Tools & Home Improvement told CE Pro that home automation was increasing in popularity and that Amazon had a team of staff dedicated to researching the category and identifying emerging trends.

Finally, Amazon has now added a link to its Amazon Fresh grocery service direct from amazon.com for the first time, indicating its likely expansion plans. Although the service is currently available only in Seattle and Los Angeles, it is anticipated that this could be rolled out to many more urban areas in the coming year.

Planet Retail