Amazon expands private label push with expansion into food

[SAN FRANCISCO] Amazon.com has started selling its own private-label food items for the first time, broadening an effort to control more of the path from the creation of products to purchase.

The online retail giant now offers organic "Mama Bear" baby food and "Happy Belly" coffee, the company said Wednesday. The items are available to subscribers of Amazon's Prime free- shipping service on its website.

Amazon is investing in its own lineup of products as it looks for new ways to reach consumers directly, with less help from other companies, boosting loyalty and potentially profits. Already, it sells more than 3,000 products - from clothing to camera tripods - under its own private labels.

A spokeswoman said the push into foods was part of Amazon's long-term goal to offer the largest selection of products in the world. She declined to comment on Amazon's food product road map.

The new effort builds on AmazonBasics, which launched in 2009 and initially focused on simple electronics and related accessories such as batteries and recordable DVDs. It expanded the range of products under this brand, in part by tracking what customers look at and buy on its websites and apps for ideas of which products to pursue next.

BLOOMBERG