Amazon Go Grocery, an expanded version of the walk in, select and walk out Amazon Go format, has been open since end February and it is different from the much smaller stores that preceded it and which have been making inroads in cities across the US.
Rather than being sub 2,000 sq ft, this is a 10,400 sq ft concern, putting it firmly in the small neighbourhood supermarket or super-sized convenience store category.
As such, the offer is substantially different from the Amazon Go norm where the focus has been on snacks, prepared and packaged foods and perhaps a cup of coffee from a machine while the shopper is at it. In Amazon Go Grocery there is a much greater fresh offer and it now becomes possible to shop for the evening meal or even to stock the larder. Yet the look and feel of the store is nearly identical to an Amazon Go with the difference being the mechanics of allowing customers to have a ‘bigger’ shop with trolleys, reusable bright green bags and suchlike.
There are also elements of the Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market about what has been done with products from suppliers to that chain being used to boost the Go Grocery offer, although prices are generally lower than in the sister enterprise.
this still doesn’t break even with the economics but they look more and more likely to be able to develop that in the future . There will be a limit to how many they will launch but when they do sort out economics beware 7-11 in USA and TESCO Sainsbury’s in UK.
This may all still represent small change for Amazon, but increasingly the app-based walk in walk out food shop at scale looks a realistic possibility. UK retailers need to take note.
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