In 2022, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy sounded warning bells in a watershed letter admitting defeat on the chain’s grocery business. Earlier this year, he updated shareholders with a “very bullish” future. Today, we have a glimpse of the scale of the strategy.
Amazon wants to go all-in on a one-stop shop.
On Nov. 5, Amazon unveiled a concept store in Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania, wherein 10,000 square feet of the local Whole Foods features an automated micro-fulfillment center operated by Amazon. Stocked with over 12,000 items, the store features conventional grocery items not traditionally stocked at Whole Foods, due to its quality standards.
The system uses ShopBot robots to retrieve, sort and stage products before handing them off to employees to finalize it for customer delivery or pickup.
For brand loyalists who still want to shop at Whole Foods, this solution endeavors to streamline their grocery run by offering their go-to brands in one location.
A separate trial in Chicago that has been going strong for over a year offers a less “behind-the-scenes” look at Amazon’s plan. Operating on the second floor of a Whole Foods, in the specialty grocer’s former coffee shop, is a 3,800 square foot Amazon Grocery stocked with conventional legacy CPGs such as Coca-Cola and Bounty.
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