An idea that I've been thinking about for a while is an Amazon for perishable commodities. At least here in Western Europe, fresh produce has ridiculous markups. It seems obvious that producers and consumers get abused by distributors. I have the feeling that there's an opportunity in delivering to the customer's home, offering competitive prices in exchange for predictability (repeat orders, preorders, orders with flexible delivery dates, machine learned purchase patterns) that would let one move high volumes without keeping much stock.
To begin with one could focus on organic produce, which (again, in my area) has trouble finding shelf space.
I haven't discarded this idea yet, but I wouldn't mind if someone out there gave it a go first :).
The above links go to the Grocery, Natural + Organic, and Gourmet Foods departments at Amazon. These mostly sell non-perishable items, but do include some frozen foods.
Amazon Fresh is a pilot program, currently in the Seattle area only. It features just about everything you can get at a grocery store, plus a partial selection of items from regular Amazon departments (books, music, electronics, etc.). A lot of companies went bankrupt trying to do this; Amazon seems to be taking baby steps to make sure it can be profitable.
I don't fare well as I used amazon for nearly everything while in the UK, but now in Canada I'm stuck with CrapBuy and Shit-Mart who sell everything at hiked prices.
Anyone knows if they've announced plans to do that?
In Canada no bookseller can be majority owned by a foreign company, (they can only own something like 25%, it's seriously screwed up). Amazon doesn't operate foreign subsidiaries and so it can't legally own property in Canada for it's business. Canada Post however essentially gave Amazon a permanent lease of one of their large distribution warehouses in Mississauga right on the Canada Post's own central distribution point for all Ontario post and the central hub for all post travelling through Canada.
Indigo/Chapters/Coles (the same company) cried foul in court and to the government, however the Judge ruled (IIRC) that as Amazon didn't own any property in Canada they were exempt from the ownership laws. Obviously when the laws were originally set in place they didn't realise how easy it would be for a company to operate without its own property.
I doubt Amazon.ca will come to mirror the US site any time soon. They're in a tough situation and until the laws change, they likely can't afford to jeopardise their position.
Anyway, I am with you on ordering everything from Amazon. I live in the US and have Prime, and it's just amazing. Going to the store is just not necessary when you can have something show up at your house the next day for $4 extra. (I still buy most food in real stores. But that's about it.)
Also, there's no Amazon Prime for international customers, which is a total shame. I understand that it's not cost-effective to give free international shipping for $75 a year, but I'd happily pay double, maybe even triple for it. The shipping costs are what kill me on Amazon -- it's the only thing that stops me from buying everything (literally, everything) from Amazon.