Amazon To Launch New Grocery-Store Business Separate From Whole Foods (arstechnica.com)

An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal: Amazon is planning to open dozens of grocery stores in several major U.S. cities (Warning: source may be paywalled; alternative source), according to people familiar with the matter, as the retail giant looks to broaden its reach in the food business. The company plans to open its first grocery store in Los Angeles as early as the end of the year, one person said. Amazon has already signed leases for at least two other grocery locations with openings planned for early next year, this person said. The new stores would be distinct from the company's upscale Whole Foods Market brand, though it is unclear whether the new grocery chain would carry the Amazon name. Amazon is also exploring an acquisition strategy to widen the new supermarket brand by purchasing regional grocery chains with about a dozen stores under operation, one person said. The new stores aren't intended to compete directly with Whole Foods, these people said. The new chain would offer a wider variety of products than what is on the shelves at the more upscale Whole Foods stores. The company is reportedly in talks to open grocery stores in shopping centers in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia.

Comments

Amazon Go

[mobby_6kl]

They already have at least a couple of no-checkout Go stores so I would expect that this is what they would expand, rather than come up with yet another concept, but the article doesn't really clarify.

The creepiness factor of being watched aside, the store I tried in Seattle was one of those "just works" experience that felt like magic. On the downside, it was pretty small with a limited selection of groceries, so I wonder how well it would scale to a much larger store if that's what they're going for.

Re:Amazon Go

[ShanghaiBill]

They are rolling out the cashierless model on small stores first to test customer acceptance, and try different layouts and policies. Once they get all the problems ironed out, they will scale to bigger stores.

In five years, cashierless stores will be common. In ten years they will be ubiquitous.

Re:Amazon Go

[Anonymous Coward]

And in 10 years they will have armed guards instead of cashiers to stave off the groups of young people in hoodies just nabbing a customer's phone outside the store, going in and stealing a bunch of stuff. This will happen over and over.

Re:Amazon Go

[Fly Swatter]

Every grocery store in my area has a self-checkout option. It is usually faster if a) the cashier lines are 2-3 people deep, b) you know what you are doing, and c) the machine actually works properly.

c) is the current problem I encounter, which usually is 'unexpected item in bagging area' due to a slight variance in an item's weight or the scale itself that weighs all your bagged items is unreliable particularly if you have to shift the bags around to make room.

Yea this isn't truly cashier-less like picking up whatever you want and just walking out but honestly it is good enough for me and the store manages to reduce 8 cashiers down to the 1 that oversees all the self checkout lines.

-Can't wait for Amazon's grocery to be infiltrated by knockoff and gray market food!

This will be Amazon's MO

[bogaboga]

Trust me guys, this was inevitable. It had to happen. I mean Amazon launching some kind of grocery store business.

Their MO will be something like this:

Any "non-fresh" foods from their Whole Foods business will be restocked in this grocery business and a cheaper price point.

That's what they almost all do. Kudos to Amazon BTW.

This makes sense

[Trailer Trash]

Whole Foods is not a "grocery store" and doesn't compete with standard grocery stores. It's true that in the absence of WF their shoppers would go to Kroger or whatever, but the fact is that for most folks it's not seen as an alternative. Put another way, if Whole Foods was next door to my house and Publix was 5 miles, I'd still go to Publix. The other store would have to be 10+ miles for me to think about WF. They don't carry much standard stuff and I don't care for "organic" or "non-GMO". Both are scams.

If Amazon bought WF to get into the grocery business, they're stupid. But, newflash, you don't get to be Amazon by being stupid.

I'm not entirely sure what the plan was, but it's not surprising to me that they're looking for an alternative way to get into grocery.

Amazon is gunning for Safeway

[erp_consultant]

Kroger by all accounts is a pretty well run company. Safeway/Albertsons, on the other hand, is horribly run and deeply in debt. 12 billion is what I heard. But they do have a lot of stores and real estate that would appeal to Amazon. Amazon will force them into bankruptcy and scoop it up for pennies on the dollar.