Amazon Expands Same-Day Grocery Delivery. Rival Stocks Are Falling.

Walmart is one of the retailers being pressured by Amazon’s expansion of its grocery business. A worker fulfills online pickup orders at a Walmart store in Columbus, Ohio. (Brian Kaiser/Bloomberg)

Key Points

• Amazon expanded same-day perishable grocery delivery to over 2,300 US cities, more than doubling its previous coverage.
• Amazon’s stock rose 1.7%, while rivals like Instacart parent Maplebear plunged 7% and DoorDash dropped 4.2%.
• Grocery retailers and delivery platforms are adapting to Amazon’s expansion, with some focusing on software or international growth.

Amazon is allowing more shoppers to add milk, meat, and other fresh produce to their shopping basket—and deliver it in just hours. Rival stocks—from delivery platforms to grocery retailers—are flinching.

Amazon said on Wednesday it has expanded same-day delivery of perishable groceries to more than 2,300 U.S. cities and communities, more than doubling its existing footprint.

The company has long offered grocery delivery via its Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market services, but it only recently included perishable groceries in its regular same-day delivery network alongside other merchandise. The offering started in August with 1,000 cities.

Amazon stock jumped 1.7% on Wednesday as investors expect the e-commerce giant to grab a bigger slice of Americans’ $1 trillion-plus grocery spend. Shares of Instacart parent Maplebear plunged 7%, DoorDash dropped 4.2%. Kroger stock fell 2.6%, while Walmart lost 1.6%.

For years, grocery retailers have been dialing up spending on e-commerce infrastructure to defend competition from Amazon. Walmart has pushed its Walmart+ delivery program and is testing drones and ultrafast fulfillment. Target is leaning on Shipt to offer same-day delivery from nearly all of its stores.

Grocery chains like Kroger offer delivery both via their own channels and partnerships with third-party platforms like Instacart and DoorDash. Amazon itself is testing a 30-minute “Amazon Now” service in select cities, nudging delivery times down toward pizza-delivery speed.

Courier-service providers like Instacart and DoorDash are especially under pressure. Retailers still control the fresh supply chain and local store networks, giving them bargaining power in partnerships with delivery platforms. That makes it harder for delivery platforms to match Amazon’s price and speed without compressing their own margins.

Delivery platforms are scrambling to adapt. Instacart is trying to become a software provider, talking up white-label technology for grocers. DoorDash is bulking up internationally, acquiring Deliveroo in the U.K. to deepen its European footprint.

The bigger question for 2026 isn’t whether groceries can arrive in hours, but who can make money doing it.

Write to Evie Liu at evie.liu@barrons.com