Amazon adds beer, wine to deliveries

Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day, Amazon is selling suds.

The Seattle-based online retailer is adding beer and wine to its Prime Now service in central Ohio and in Cincinnati.

The company applied for liquor permits last year and was coy at the time when asked whether it would add those products to its vast list of deliverables. That list included just about everything from cat litter and trampolines to potatoes and televisions.

“We are excited to continue expanding our product offerings and we know customers will love getting wine and beer delivered right to their door in one hour or less,” said Stephenie Landry, vice president of Prime Now, in a press release.

“Whether you run out of wine at your dinner party or need more chilled champagne for mimosas at a family brunch, Prime Now can save customers time with superfast delivery so they can skip a trip to the store.”

Customers of the service are probably not people having parties that suddenly run dry, said Chris Boring, a local retail analyst. Prime Now offers twohour delivery free and one-hour delivery for $7.99 to members of Amazon Prime.

“If you run out at a party, you don’t want to wait an hour or two,” Boring said.

It is a better fit for folks who might want to stock up on a case of wine and don’t want to haul it around a grocery store or buy beer in bulk for a holiday cookout.

The selection includes national brands and some local ones as well.

In central Ohio, Prime Now members can choose among 78 beers, including Jackie O’s, Elevator, Great Lakes, Fat Head’s, Rhinegeist and MadTree. There are 90 wine products offered, including boxed wines and bottles.

Big stores and carryouts won’t suffer much, Boring said, given that only Prime members, who pay an annual fee, can use the service. What other retailers might be concerned about, however, is Amazon’s unstoppable creep into more segments of business.

“I think Amazon is trying to stick its finger into everything it possibly can,” Boring said. “It is part of their business model. They want to conquer the world.”