Amazon already delivers everything from toothpaste to televisions to your doorstep. Now, it wants to bring your berries and beer, too.

The online retailing behemoth is planning a major expansion of AmazonFresh, the home delivery service of meat, dairy and other fresh and frozen foods that it has been field-testing in Seattle since 2007. The service could launch in Los Angeles as early as this week, and delivery in San Francisco is on the horizon for later this year, according to Reuters. By 2014, the company could expand grocery delivery to as many as 40 major urban areas.

So why would a heavyweight like Amazon bother diving into the grocery business, with its notoriously razor-thin profit margins? After all, the online grocery business has become a sort of Bermuda Triangle for many companies, 

But home grocery delivery could prove to be a Trojan horse for Amazon to get inside your home more frequently, says Justin Bomberowitz, a senior analyst with RetailNet Group, which released a research note on AmazonFresh in April. (The firm shared the note, which requires registration to access, with The Salt.)

“What this does is give Amazon the opportunity to connect with customers on a more frequent basis,” he tells The Salt.

Right now, Bomberowitz says, most Amazon customers tend to make small purchases, one or two items at a time. But if Amazon can bundle your bananas with your books and batteries, it can make that stop at your door all the more profitable.

As for the grocery biz itself, it doesn’t need to be a cash cow for Amazon right away. So can Amazon afford to lose money on grocery delivery?

“Absolutely,” Bomberowitz says.

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