Fresh foods boost demand for Amazon's 15-minute quick-delivery in Brazil, other countries

Fresh food offerings have helped boost demand for Amazon's AMZN.O new 15-minute quick-delivery service in Brazil, prompting the company to increase its range of products for that market by 15%, a local executive said.

Amazon kicked off the service known as Amazon Now in the U.S. last year, promising deliveries within 30 minutes in parts of some major cities.

It then expanded to global markets including Mexico, India, Japan and Britain for ultra-fast deliveries of everyday essentials and groceries, segments that have become central to its Prime Day sale in the U.S.

"We are very positively surprised by fresh food acceptance, which we hadn't sold before," Fernanda Grumach, the shopping experience director at Amazon's Brazilian operations, told Reuters in an interview.

The service marks Amazon's debut in fresh and frozen foods in Brazil, a country that has become a priority for the U.S. firm and where rival Walmart exited in the last decade.

Amazon initially launched Amazon Now with grocery deliveries in select areas of eight Brazilian cities and has been expanding the coverage, Grumach said, including a push into Osasco, in Sao Paulo's metropolitan area.

Since the Brazilian launch, Amazon has expanded its range of offerings available through Amazon Now by 15%, including a major increase in the fruit and vegetable range, she said. Amazon did not provide further details on sales performance.

In Brazil, Amazon competes heavily with Uruguay-based e-commerce platform MercadoLibre MELI.O and Shopee, owned by Singapore's Sea SE.N. It may also soon take on iFood as a rival - an app owned by Dutch investment group Prosus <PRX.AS> that dominates Brazil's meal delivery market.

Amazon has partnered with Colombian delivery app Rappi for Amazon Now in Brazil and Mexico, including sharing logistics hubs. Amazon launched the service in Mexico late last year.

The World Cup has boosted demand in Brazil for items such as soccer stickers, snacks and beverages, Grumach said in an interview last week, before the country's five-time soccer champions were stunned by Norway on Sunday.

There is no single global playbook for Amazon Now since demand drivers can vary from place to place, but some markets can provide forward-looking indicators, according to Grumach.

"For example, Mexico debuted in the World Cup earlier than Brazil, so we closely monitored demand for Amazon Now there and thought, 'Well, we better be prepared for that here,'" she said.

-Reporting by Andre Romani in Sao Paulo; Editing by Jamie Freed/Reuters