Tom Weiland, Amazon’s head of global customer service, has been put in charge of managing Amazon Fresh, according to his LinkedIn profile.
Amazon is currently in the midst of rapidly expanding its Fresh service across the country. Last year, the company started delivering groceries to interested customers in San Francisco and Los Angeles, and a number of signs point to Amazon Fresh opening up in New York later this year.
Grocery delivery is a growing business for the Seattle-based retailer. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos said in his letter to shareholders that his company plans to continue expanding the service to more cities. In addition, Amazon recently began offering a new Prime Pantry service that allows users to fill a box with household essentials and get it shipped to them.
Expanding Fresh service also gives Amazon a foothold to work on other services like its same-day delivery options and a rumored “last-mile” shipping service that would allow the company to transport its own goods to customers.
What’s more, it seems like Amazon is under greater pressure to move on any ambitions it might have to provide grocery delivery. Instacart, which was started by a former Amazon engineer, is rapidly expanding across the country, and Webvan founder Louis Borders is working on a new home delivery startup.
An Amazon representative did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this report.
