Why Amazon (AMZN) Stock Is Climbing Today

Aug 14 - Amazon AMZN pushes hard into grocery today, expanding same-day delivery to more than 1,000 U.S. cities and aiming for 2,300 by year-end. The company pares the friction for shoppers: Prime members get free same-day delivery on orders over $25, and Amazon drops the prior $9.99 Prime grocery add-on. Non-Prime shoppers can use the service for a $12.99 fee.

Shares of the company climbed about 4% following the news.

Amazon backs the expansion with roughly $4 billion of logistics investment that also targets more than 4,000 rural communities. Management says bundling perishables with regular items lets customers shop less and buy more in a single cart, a direct challenge to Walmart+ and Instacart. Markets react: AMZN shares gain roughly 2% while competitors feel pressure, Instacart and Kroger slip, DoorDash eases.

Analysts note the move reduces barriers for grocery trial among Prime users, but they flag margin risk: aggressive pricing and faster delivery increase costs until scale and efficiency kick in. Amazon's market cap stays massive, and this push looks like the company trading short-term profit for long-term share gains in a category it has yet to fully dominate.