Jet.com pilots grocery delivery

Online retailer—and would-be rival to Amazon— Jet.com is continuing to spread its wings.



The retailer is testing a home delivery service for fresh groceries in certain markets in the metro areas of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C. According to an email sent to some customers, produce delivery will take one to two days, with no fee for orders of $35 or more.



This move pits Jet directly against archrival Amazon.com’s Amazon Fresh service, as well as specialty grocery delivery services such as Instacart, Peapod and FreshDirect. Jet.com stands alone as the only major online grocery delivery provider which does not charge a membership fee (which can range up to $299 for Amazon Fresh) and/or a delivery fee on all orders.



The retailer also promised customers it would offer additional discounts for larger orders. Of course, customers must wait for one to two days, as opposed to as little as one to two hours for services such as Amazon Fresh and Instacart. However, Jet.com certainly would be an attractive option for consumers who normally purchase the same basic load of groceries once or twice a week.



While Jet.com, which launched in July 2015, is estimated to be capable of generating $500 million in revenue annually and had raised $700 million in funding as of December 2015, the retailer’s mainstays are CPG and health and beauty products. In February 2016, it greatly expanded its reach in the home goods market by purchasing Omaha, Nebraska-based online home products retailer Hayneedle.



Now Jet.com is looking to take a piece of the burgeoning online fresh grocery market. The retailer is intelligently targeting customers who are willing to sacrifice immediacy in exchange for savings. If the customer demand and internal costs line up, this could be a high-flying omnichannel offering.