grocery retailer has an Alexa within people’s homes, and certainly no other retailer has a smart cart already in operation to pair with such a voice assistant, either. Customers can pair their individual mobile apps or shopping lists to the cart, and then the cart will help them find and check items off their shopping lists by leveraging smart technology that knows what items on their lists have been placed inside their carts while they shop. Third, and finally, these same lists can also be coordinated with Amazon’s new smart Dash Cart. Second, Amazon Fresh customers can start their shopping lists at home via voice and then access the items on their lists by way of their Amazon apps while shopping the store. ask the kiosks where to find items throughout the store. According to Amazon Fresh’s website, customers can say things like, “Alexa, where can I find the ketchup,” and Alexa will then tell them where to go.īig blue Alexa kiosk in Amazon's new Amazon Fresh Grocery store in Woodland Hils, CA. Alexa permeates the new fresh experience in a number of ways.įirst, blue Alexa kiosks help Fresh customers find items while they shop. One of the most interesting and sublime experiments happening within Amazon Fresh has to do with Alexa and voice technology. In the former, Amazon still wins, while in the latter, one has to wonder if the use case is broad enough in its appeal to make a difference, and especially when one considers the next point. It’s like doing Target or Walmart without having to physically inventory all the other product categories inside of a store itself.Ī traditional grocer’s only competitive response will be either to allow Amazon into its walls ( similar to Kohl’s KSS) or to partner with third-party services that operate return hubs for online purveyors not named Amazon. It is almost like Amazon is creating a “faux one-stop shop” (my quotes) for everything a general merchandise store would carry but doing it by way of digital connection points and smartly placed counters and curbside services in and out in front of a grocery store. “And in my opinion, those stores are never going to open,” he said.Īmazon has a reputation for being a trailblazing disrupter in retail, but since Jassy was promoted to CEO and president in 2021, the bar has been raised for profitability, said Garry Church, senior vice president of enterprise strategy and development at Inmar Intelligence, a retail industry analytics company in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.The closest competitors that offer something similar to this right now are the mass merchants like Walmart WMT and Target TGT, but, keep in mind, their third-party marketplaces and assortment offerings also still pale in comparison to Amazon.Īmazon is instead doing something quite unique. ![]() The renovated, unopened spaces in Plainview and East Setauket are among several from Virginia to New Jersey that have the capacity to open within two weeks as Amazon Fresh stores, but they won’t be, Metzger said. ![]() “They are a failure … ‘Just Walk Out’ technology is not a game-changer for people who are buying food,” he said. We’re working hard at it,” he said.Īmazon recorded a $720 million charge in the fourth quarter on property, equipment and operating leases, primarily related to its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go physical stores, chief financial officer Brian Olsavsky told analysts.Īmazon Fresh stores are struggling for several reasons: The merchandising is confusing the store operations, including customer service, are subpar and the quality of perishable foods ranges from average to slightly above average, said Jeff Metzger, publisher of Food Trade News in Columbia, Maryland. “We’ve … decided over the last year or so that we’re not going to expand the physical Fresh doors until we have that equation with differentiation and economic value that we like, but we’re optimistic that we’re going to find that in 2023. 2, Amazon CEO and president Andrew Jassy told analysts during an earnings call that the company was pausing the opening of new Amazon Fresh stores while it experiments to try to find a format that resonates with customers. ![]() But Amazon, which had a net loss of $2.7 billion in 2022, is cutting costs and trying to boost profitability companywide. ![]() There are now 44 Amazon Fresh stores in eight states and Washington, D.C., according to its website.Īmazon, which bought the Whole Foods Market chain in 2017, launched Amazon Fresh to attract customers who wanted a more traditional grocery selection instead of high-end Whole Foods’ organic and natural offerings. By clicking Sign up, you agree to our privacy policy.
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