Saving Seafood

Amazon launches “Amazon Grocery” private label including value-priced fresh seafood

October 6, 2025 — Online retailer Amazon, which recently ventured into fresh grocery and seafood delivery, has now introduced its own Amazon Grocery private label brand in the U.S.

Encompassing more than 1,000 “high quality” food items, the selection includes fresh meat and seafood, milk, produce, and pantry staples. Most products are priced under USD 5.00 (EUR 4.26), “offering exceptional value to customers,” Amazon said. The products were previously under the Amazon Fresh and Happy Belly private label lines.

Read the full article at SeafoodSource

Bezos Earth Fund announced USD 100 million in support for initiative to protect Pacific marine ecosystems

December 6, 2023 — The Bezos Earth Fund, a USD 10 billion (EUR 9.2 billion) fund created by Amazon Founder Jeff Bezos, has committed USD 100 million (EUR 92 million) to the recently formed Unlocking Blue Pacific Prosperity (UBPP) initiative.

The UBPP initiative was announced at COP28 by a number of member organizations and governments, including the Palau President Surangel Whipps, Tonga Prime Minister Hu’akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, Fiji Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Lesikimacuata Korovavala, and more. The initiative will cover 100 percent of the “Blue Pacific Continent,” an area of the ocean covering more than 1 billion hectares.

Read the full story at SeafoodSource

 

Pacific Seafood launching value-added products for Amazon Go

May 11, 2021 — Now that COVID-19 outbreaks are under control at Pacific Seafood, the supplier is turning its attention to launching unique value-added seafood items with partners such as Amazon and Pac-12 university football and basketball.

In March, the Clackamas, Oregon-based company’s processing plant in Warrenton, Oregon, U.S.A had its third outbreak of COVID-19 in the past year. Last September, nearly 100 of Pacific’s employees at its Warrenton facility tested positive for COVID-19, four months after more than 130 employees tested positive for the coronavirus among its five plants in the area.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

US grocery outlook bright, with Amazon set to overtake Walmart as largest retailer

May 3, 2021 — The outlook for United States retailers and grocers is strong, according to National Retail Federation (NRF) Chief Economist Jack Kleinhenz.

As Americans get vaccinated against COVID-19, they are developing a more positive economic outlook, and they’re visits into physical stores are rising, according to Kleinhenz. As a result, the U.S. economy is on firm footing and could see its fastest growth in more than three decades.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Consumers flowing to retailers bridging online and offline shopping experience

September 23, 2020 — Soaring e-commerce grocery sales, along with continued strong sales of fresh and frozen seafood sold in traditional retail outlets, are pointing the way forward for U.S. suppliers and distributors.

Despite the loss of much of its foodservice business since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic in March, the seafood industry has been compensated with huge boosts in sales through both online and traditional retail arenas.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

EuroCommerce urges coastal states to negotiate quotas to retain certifications

June 24, 2020 — EuroCommerce, a European organization representing the retail and wholesale sector – with member companies including Amazon, Ahold Delhaize, Ikea, Tesco, and more – has written a letter to multiple coastal states urging speedy negotiations of fishing quotas.

The letter comes as the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC), along with MarinTrust – formerly IFFO RS – have suspended accreditation of multiple fisheries due to countries exceeding recommended catch limits. Disputes about catches between coastal states have led overall quotas to be set higher than the International Council for the Exploration of the Seas recommends.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Alaskan halibut, caught by a century-old Seattle boat, provides a glimpse of Amazon’s strategy with Whole Foods

April 28, 2019 — From the deck of his 106-year-old halibut schooner, undergoing a seasonal overhaul at Fisherman’s Terminal in Seattle, skipper Wade Bassi has better insight than most into what’s happening at Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market, at least as pertains to the product he knows best.

While he doesn’t buy halibut much — he’s got a freezer full of it — Bassi, 43 years a fisherman, keeps an eye on how it’s handled and presented in the grocery stores and fish markets.

“When you look at nice halibut, I mean it is pure white,” he said. “And it is flaky-looking, and it is beautiful. It’s translucent. If you’ve got that in the fish market, people are going to buy it.”

A few days earlier, Whole Foods touted a rarely seen promotional price for halibut as part of its ongoing campaign to revise the grocery chain’s high-cost reputation while maintaining its image for quality and sustainability.

“Whole Foods is one of the better ones, to be honest with you,” Bassi said. “But you know, Whole Foods, whole paycheck. … They usually do charge way more for everything than anywhere else. Which really surprises me that they’re selling this for $16-something a pound, because they’re not making anything on it.”

Whole Foods’ halibut deal opens a window into Amazon’s grocery strategy as it seeks to combine the defining characteristics of each brand, leverage its juggernaut Prime membership program and take a larger share of the grocery business from competitors such as Walmart, Kroger and Costco.

Read the full story at The Seattle Times

Amazon, Walmart lead new pilot e-commerce program in US

April 24, 2019 — Amazon and Walmart are participating in a United States government pilot program that allows Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) recipients to buy groceries online.

The two-year test, which recently launched in New York, allows online purchasing by SNAP households with electronic benefit transfer (EBT) cards issued in New York.

Amazon and Walmart will participate in the initial pilot launch on 23 April with ShopRite joining early next week. ShopRite and Amazon are providing service to the New York City area and Walmart is providing online service in upstate New York locations.

Read the full story at Seafood Source

Amazon’s grocery stores may push seafood changes

March 4, 2019 — Amazon’s new venture into opening full-scale grocery stores will force a change in the way fresh seafood and other items are sold, analysts say.

On 1 March, The Wall Street Journal reported Amazon is planning to open dozens of grocery stores in several major United States cities, including Los Angeles, California.

The stores would not be the smaller, 1,800-square-foot Amazon Go concept stores that Amazon began testing last year, but rather, they will be 35,000-square-feet mainstream grocery stores. The larger size will allow Amazon to offer more variety of products – and likely lower-priced items – than Whole Foods Market stores, the Journal reported.

Existing grocery chains should be concerned by Amazon’s entrance into the market, analysts said in the article. Stock prices for Walmart, Kroger, Target, BJs, Costco, and others all sank on Friday, 1 March.

“Amazon has become one of the world’s largest retailers by driving cost out of the marketplace. Food retailers the ilk of HEB, Publix, Kroger, and Albertsons will have the most to lose as they continue to fight for dollars from the ‘middle,’” Steven Johnson, grocerant guru at consulting firm Foodservice Solutions, told SeafoodSource.

Meanwhile, value grocery chains such as Lidl, Aldi, and WinCo will likely have more growth as Amazon enters the market, according Johnson.

Read the full story at Seafood Source