"Amazon will be a top-10 player in the approximately $795bn U.S. food and beverage grocery market by 2019," analysts at Cowen & Company LLC, led by John Blackledge, said. "We are encouraged by Amazon's growing footprint in this category, which we see as ripe for potential disruption given younger [demographics] increasingly purchasing food and beverage grocery items via digital channels."
Amazon has already been building its grocery offerings and going up against such competitors as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Costco Wholesales Corp., and Publix Supermarkets Inc. It now has Amazon Prime, Prime Now, Prime Pantry, and Amazon Fresh that offer delivery times as short as an hour, in some cases.
