Just Walk Out: Cashierless Shopping

Being tested in a number of Amazon Go Stores.   Pushing convenience.   In my cook role would love to be able to 'just walk out' with an ingredient item or two.  Is it enough to get me to use Amazon Fresh or Amazon Go stores?

Amazon Quietly Began Building a Grocery Chain During Pandemic

The company has opened 11 Amazon Fresh stores around the U.S., with plans for at least 28 more, as it tries to lure mainstream shoppers. 

By Matt Day in Bloomberg  March 11, 2021, 5:00 AM EST

As many businesses struggled to survive the pandemic, Amazon.com Inc. was quietly building a national grocery chain.

The first Amazon Fresh store opened to the public in Los Angeles in September. Store No. 11 opened Thursday, and Amazon is working on at least 28 more, from Philadelphia to the Sacramento suburbs. The company is also testing the “Just Walk Out” cashierless shopping technology created for its Go convenience stores at an Amazon Fresh location in Illinois.  ... " 

Google Deals with Retailer Carrefour to Sell Groceries Online

We worked with Carrefour in our innovation spaces and in France and China.  Looks like Home and Google Assistant will be utilized. Emphasis on fresh foods.  Competition seems to be driving this.  Amazon has just announced rollout of Echo in France.

Google Enters Deal With Carrefour to Sell Food Online in France  By Robert Williams in Bloomberg

Alphabet Inc.’s Google entered a deal with Carrefour SA to sell groceries online in France in what the retailer said was the first time fresh food will be marketed through the Internet giant’s platforms.

By early 2019, French shoppers will be able to buy Carrefour’s products through Google platforms including Home, Assistant and the Google shopping destination in France, the retailer said in a statement. Carrefour didn’t comment on the financial structure of the deal.

Competition in the French supermarket business has been heating up as grocers race to boost their digital offerings. Casino Guichard Perrachon SA in March announced a deal to sell products from its Monoprix stores via Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime service in the Paris area, following a deal last year between Casino and grocery e-commerce technology provider Ocado Group Plc. ... " 

Amazon Fresh and Fresh Grocery Business

Amazon is dropping major hints it's ready to dominate the fresh grocery business   By Dennis Green in BusinessInsider

The head of Amazon's Prime Now division is now also leading its AmazonFresh grocery business.   Amazon Fresh has scaled back while Prime Now expands to new cities.  Synergies with Whole Foods and Prime Now may prove a winning combination.

Amazon could be about to make some big changes to its grocery business, which currently consists of two services: AmazonFresh and Prime Now.

AmazonFresh is the company's oldest grocery delivery service, a traditional online option with a $15-a-month membership cost and reserved delivery times.

Prime Now, on the other hand, is Amazon's two-hour delivery offering, which comes free with Prime. On top of a more limited selection of food, it also offers a small selection of products like Echo devices and seasonal items.  ... "

How is Amazon Changing Whole Foods?

Announcements not very remarkable, would like to see more technology in store,  that supports the idea of fresh,  integration of ingredients, cooking and innovation. How about robotic virtual and physical assembly of fresh recipes.  Integrate AI creativity?  Many possibilities.   How can you get tech to help with creative choices?  How about a deeper linking of their Alexa capabilities?

Amazon Just Announced How It's Changing Whole Foods.
A new era begins with this sentence: "Starting Monday, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices."   By Bill Murphy Jr. in Inc.

Here are the changes that are coming to a Whole Foods near you, in greater detail. In short, they're cutting prices across the board -- and as many have predicted, will ultimately be adding more benefits for Amazon Prime members. .... "

First, Amazon said it would cut prices immediately on many products, including: "bananas, organic avocados, organic large brown eggs, organic responsibly farmed salmon and tilapia, organic baby kale and baby lettuce, animal-welfare-rated 85 percent lean ground beef, creamy and crunchy almond butter, organic Gala and Fuji apples, organic rotisserie chicken, 365 Everyday Value organic butter, and much more."

Second, "after certain technical integration work is complete, Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods Market's customer rewards program, providing Prime members with special savings and other in-store benefits."

Next, Whole Foods Market's private label products "will be available through Amazon.com, AmazonFresh, Prime Pantry, and Prime Now." ....  "

More on Tacobots, the future of ordering Tacos.

Amazon Fresh Moves Forward

It was thought that Amazon could not provide fresh delivery and experience at scale.

SpartanNash looks toward growth with Amazon partnership
SpartanNash has teamed with Amazon to distribute dry and chilled groceries for the online retail giant's Amazon Prime Now service and has recently added distribution for the Amazon Fresh program  ... "