This week, Amazon opened three Fresh stores in the Los Angeles region, progressing further in its grocery strategy. Vice President of Retail Claire Peters, who came onboard in February, commented that the company still has "more work to do" to captivate customers. At the Woodland Hills store, Amazon replaced the meat and seafood counter with a wider range of pre-packaged items in response to customer feedback, Peters mentioned.
In February, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy announced a belt-tightening campaign that included a pause on opening new Fresh supermarkets and Go convenience stores, as well as some closures of underperforming locations, prompting speculation of a pullback in the company's multibillion-dollar move into brick-and-mortar stores. However, Claire Peters, a 28-year veteran of the retail industry hired as vice president of retail at Amazon in February, has denied such a retreat. This week Peters attended the grand reopening of three Amazon Fresh stores, which the company launched during the pandemic to reach a wider audience than Whole Foods. An additional 3,000 products were added to the selection following customer feedback that the selection was lacking. In an interview with CNBC, Peters said Amazon is determined to gain its share of the US$1.32 trillion U.S. grocery market and is focused on making grocery shopping more enjoyable and delightful for people. Amazon is currently second in the online grocery market, behind Walmart. As it seeks to establish itself in a business far from its online retail roots, Amazon must provide services that entice customers away from the competition.
Peters expressed his understanding that people may not be keen on Amazon while at the reopening of the Fresh store in Woodland Hills. "Do I want them to love us as in actually, 'They take all that pain out of my shopping,' 'They must be reading my mind,' 'Gosh that's such an irritation to take my returns back after Christmas?'" he said, hoping that the company will be able to get rid of those inconveniences. To support the new grocery strategy, some executives were moved to other parts of the company, a strategy acknowledged in the openings of the Fresh stores in the Pasadena and Irvine areas this August, as well as the Chicago-area stores.
As Thanksgiving approaches, Peters gave an example of how the store was lacking options in that department prior to the upgrade, with customers having difficulty finding basic items like cranberry sauce or pumpkin pie filling. To address this, Amazon has developed a private-label selection as well as introducing more convenient signage and recipe tips for users. Moreover, the store has been redesigned with the aim of making it more inviting and user-friendly, with the removal of the meat and seafood counter, self-checkout lanes and Krispy Kreme donut and coffee stalls near the front.
Amazon's journey into the grocery space began over a decade ago, with the inaugural launch of its Fresh delivery service in 2007. After a series of initiatives, the most significant step arrived in 2017, when Amazon acquired Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. A year later, the e-commerce giant opened its string of cashier-less Go stores.This week, it released news that it was making Fresh services accessible to all across the US, with varying fee allocations for non-Prime members dependent on the size of the order. Amazon has introduced aspects of its online environment to Fresh locations, such as sponsored ads and discounts for Prime members. Moreover, Alexa-enabled displays are available to guide shoppers, as well as the Dash Carts that largely eliminate the checkout procedure.Amazon is also trialling 'micro FCs', tiny automated warehouses incorporated into existing stores, so as to speed up order fulfilment and boost stock range. At this stage, the emphasis is on achieving excellence with fresh products, with Peters stressing the need for customers to have faith in the quality and safety of products.
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