The grocery industry has undergone rapid transformation as retailers blend physical stores with digital commerce to meet evolving consumer expectations. While online grocery shopping continues to grow, brick-and-mortar locations remain an essential part of the customer experience, prompting retailers to invest in new store formats that combine convenience, technology, and omnichannel fulfillment. Amazon’s expansion beyond Whole Foods reflects a broader strategy to capture a larger share of the grocery market through multiple retail concepts.
Grocery stores have seen the biggest sales surge compared with any other retail verticals during the Covid-19 pandemic. Amazon, which already owns Whole Foods, is reportedly planning to move forward with its own branded stores. This will not feature autonomous checkout found in its Amazon Go and Amazon Go Grocery stores, but rather be a store with checkout lanes. The new grocery store is thought to be targeted in the Chicago area. No details on the name but it will not be branded as Whole Foods. Even as shutdown restrictions are being lifted in the U.S, expectations are that consumers will be spending more of their food budget at stores in the “share of stomach” market share metric over restaurants, many of which will never re-open.
The following Chain Store Age article reports more on this topic which is excerpted below:
Amazon is reportedly making good on plans to expand its new brick-and-mortar grocery concept beyond Southern California.
According to the Daily Herald, Amazon has confirmed it is opening a nearly 43,000-sq.-ft. grocery store at the site of a former Babies ‘R’ Us store in Schaumburg, Ill., in 2020. The site is located within the Schaumburg Corners Shopping Center.
The permit for the store indicates it will include an 862-sq.-ft. dine-in restaurant area. Amazon representatives said the store will feature traditional checkout, rather than the frictionless “Amazon Go” self-checkout experience.
Amazon is rapidly accelerating development of a long-rumored chain of brick-and-mortar grocery stores (not in the Whole Foods or Amazon Go formats) across the U.S. The e-tail giant recently opened two “dark stores” that, at least for the time being, are strictly focused on fulfilling online grocery stores in the Los Angeles area.
As consumer shopping habits continue to evolve, retailers are experimenting with different grocery formats to balance convenience, fulfillment efficiency, and in-store experiences. Amazon’s continued investment in physical grocery stores demonstrates that brick-and-mortar retail remains a key component of an omnichannel strategy, even as digital commerce and grocery delivery continue to expand.
Overview provided by Raymond Pucci, Director, Merchant Services at Mercator Advisory Group.
