Amazon Is Now Parking Groceries in a Garage Near You
Amazon is expanding its Key by Amazon In-Garage Grocery Delivery from the original 5 cities that launched last November all the way up to more than 5,000 cities and towns – everywhere that Amazon offers grocery delivery. Prime members will be able to have their Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market groceries delivered – at no additional cost – into their garage, so long as they have a compatible garage door opener or myQ Smart Garage Hub. Conveniently (both for Amazon and the customer), customers can view videos of their delivery, so long as they have a Ring camera and Ring Protect Plan, or a LiftMaster Smart Garage Camera with a myQ Video Storage Subscription.
The NPD Take:
- It only takes a pandemic to make consumers place extra value on convenience, time savings, and safety of grocery delivery. Amazon’s Key In Garage Delivery (not for groceries) expanded to 4,000 cities back in November 2020, so groceries are the logical next step in this in-garage delivery program. Stepping up competition against Walmart’s InHome grocery delivery (which requires a Level Lock) doesn’t hurt either.
New Smart Home Something(s) Coming from Google
Google’s developers blog confirms that new Google smart home products will be announced at the upcoming virtual Google I/O conference held May 18-20…however no details were revealed as to what these products might be. Will it be hardware or software? If hardware, a new speaker? Display? Camera? Doorbell?
The NPD Take:
- It is probably safe to say that there will be a hardware announcement of the security-focused variety given that new products, save for the $129 Nest Thermostat that started selling last October, have been few and far between. The Nest Secure alarm security system was discontinued last fall, and it has been a good long while since we’ve seen any new Nest cameras come to market (going on more than 3 years), a Nest doorbell (3 years), or a new smart fire/CO detector (again, more than 3 years). Google’s speakers and displays, on the other hand, have been updated on a more regular cadence, the Nest Audio launched last fall and the Nest Hub 2nd Gen coming out in March 2021.