Amazon expands own-brand grocery lineup with Aplenty

Amazon has added a new food line called Aplenty to its private-brand grocery roster.

Sold online and in-store via Amazon Fresh supermarkets, Aplenty at launch includes such items as pita chips, potato chips, crackers, cookies and mustard, Seattle-based Amazon said Monday. Plans call for hundreds more Aplenty products to roll out over the next year, covering such categories as confections, salty snacks, cookies, crackers, frozen food, condiments, sauces, seasonings, baking mixes and pantry staples.

Aplenty also brings a better-for-you focus. Amazon said the products are “developed to the highest standards, with recipes rooted in quality ingredients” and contain no artificial flavors, synthetic colors or high-fructose corn syrup. The company added that Aplenty products are “rigorously taste-tested to exceed our customers’ expectations” and backed up with a “Delicious Guarantee,” in which customers can get a refund of the purchase price if not satisfied.

Examples of currently available Aplenty products include twice-baked parmesan, garlic and herb pita chips; small-batch pink Himalayan sea-salt kettle-cooked potato chips; slow-baked cornbread crackers; salted caramel chip mini cookies; and honey Dijon mustard made with stoneground mustard seed and real honey.

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Plans call for hundreds more Aplenty products over the next year in such categories as confections, salty snacks, cookies, crackers, frozen food, condiments, sauces, seasonings, baking mixes and pantry staples.

Currently, Amazon operates 12 Amazon Fresh stores in the United States, including eight in California (most recently opening in Long Beach) and four in Illinois. The stores tout a mix of national, local and private brands, with the latter featuring Amazon’s Fresh (fresh food), Cursive (wine) and 365 by Whole Foods Market (organic groceries) labels.   

Industry observers say Amazon has steadily built a strong private label grocery portfolio and is grabbing market share. Brands include Happy Belly (dairy, eggs, beverages, cooking and baking products, deli items, produce, snack foods and jams, jellies and spreads), Solimo (food, beverages, household, personal/beauty care, pet care), Wag (pet food), Sugarly Sweet (sweeteners), Santa Ninfa (pasta, oil, vinegar), Wickedly Prime (food, grocery), Presto! (household) and AmazonBasics (household and home essentials), Cinque Terre (pasta), Kalista (olive oil), Le French Pantry (seasonings), Mix-A-Licious (candy), Nature’s Instincts (dietary supplements), Powers & Powers (seasonings), Roast Ridge Coffee Roasters (coffee), Simply Sweet (cookies), Super Organics (coffee and tea) and Zesty Bee (honey).

Amazon reportedly plans to open more than two dozen additional Amazon Fresh supermarkets across the country. The online retail giant also operates two smaller, convenience-focused Amazon Fresh grocery stores in the United Kingdom. The company’s other food retail stores include 26 Amazon Go convenience stores and two Amazon Go Grocery stores, as well as 523 Whole Foods Market stores (502 in the U.S., 14 in Canada and seven in the U.K.).

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