INTERNET Amazon.com takes a tasty turn

The online merchant launches a gourmet foods store.
MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Have a craving for Le Cochon d'Or smoked ham from Cap-de-la-Madelene in Quebec? How about some Yarmouth Island lobster hors d'oeuvres or Mama Africa's Zulu lemon, garlic and jalepeno relish?
Those and thousands of other regional specialties are now being offered by online bookstore giant Amazon.com in its latest move to diversify from its core business of selling books and music.
Amazon launched its gourmet food store this week, offering more than 30,000 regional food items from about 300 merchants, including foods from most states and ethnic offerings from many countries. There are more than 700 different cheeses alone.
Not alone
Amazon isn't the first company to go online with gourmet foods; others include epicurious.com and gourmetfoodmall.com. But those names are much less well-known than Amazon's.
"This is such an incredibly fragmented industry that it makes sense for a large player like Amazon.com to consolidate all of these brands under one store," said Carrie Johnson of Forrester Research.
Amazon expanded into clothing last November, a venture Johnson said has had mixed success, and is testing whether to offer sporting goods.
The food products are shipped directly to customers by the merchants selling on Amazon's Web site.
"Frankly, when their retail partner is doing all the fulfillment of this type of product, which is really where the biggest cost is in gourmet foods, Amazon wins because they only have to sit on the front side of that transaction," she said.
Amazon's site includes offerings from large national merchants such as Omaha Steaks and Dean & amp; DeLuca, along with smaller merchants such as Alaska Smokehouse and Sticky Fingers restaurants in the Southeastern United States.
From Minnesota, The Schwan Food Co. of Marshall is offering the more than 350 products available through its home delivery service -- items such as chicken Wellington and burgundy peppercorn beef sirloin roast. Watkins Inc. of Winona offers its vanilla extract and 28 other items, and Indian Harvest of Bemidji offers a variety of herb seasonings, mixes for grain-based side dishes and focaccia mixes.
Will add more
Jason Goldenberger, who manages Amazon's gourmet foods store, said the Seattle-based company plans to continue adding merchants.
"It's a great way for Amazon.com to take advantage of our technology, and it's a one-stop place where our customers can find tens of thousands of products," Goldenberger said.
Prices on Amazon are the same or lower than on the merchants' own Web sites, he said. A price comparison of Schwan's whole Cajun turkey showed the product priced at $39.99 on both Amazon.com and Schwan's impromptugourmet.com site.