Blue Apron feeling the heat from competition with Amazon

Investing.com - Blue Apron shares hit a new low Friday Layoffs were reported less than two months after the company's IPOThe New York based company became the first meal kit delivery service to go public Shares have fallen around 40% since it first started trading as investors fret over cutting marketing costs and retaining customersBut Blue Apron also has a serious competition problemAmazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) has entered the meal kit space and is currently testing its meal service in select marketsSo far, the kits are available in Seattle and only to Amazon Fresh subscribers The slogan: “We do the prep. You be the chef.”Amazon’s push into the $1.5 billion a year meal kit industry will turn up the heat on Blue Apron The company is scheduled to announce its first quarterly earnings on Thursday