Amazon has been known to disrupt the grocery market, but it appears like the eCommerce giant is testing the waters in another segment of the market.
Because, as Amazon has shown, if there’s a trend that retailers are driving, Amazon won’t be far behind. That’s the case with its new reported plans to test out a drive-up grocery store in Sunnyvale, California — in Silicon Valley, of course — that will enable the company to operate a 11,600-square-foot building and grocery pickup area, the Silicon Valley Business Journal reported.
The details of that building, however, are still in the speculative stage since the source that Amazon is moving into the spot came from an unnamed real estate source who named Amazon as the likely business. Amazon has not confirmed the deal nor has the third-party developer. Sources also told the Business Journal that Amazon is planning to have multiple locations for grocery pickup.
If these plans do actually turn into a business for Amazon, this follows Amazon’s plans to expand its AmazonFresh presence in more markets, as well as its same-day and next-day grocery delivery services. But as Amazon has discussed in many of its recent earnings calls, the company has expressed how it wants to expand its presence further into the brick-and-mortar space — knowing that it must compete with physical retailers on multiple fronts.
“We are seeing the emergence of the next generation of the food distribution system,” Bill Bishop, chief architect at Brick Meets Click, a retail and eCommerce consultancy, told the Business Journal. “Strategically, this gives them a way to avoid the cost and complexity of going to individual households, though that’s probably still on the docket.”
What Amazon might soon be doing to its own grocery plans mirrors much of the trends that are occurring in the other, non-traditional grocery markets. With everyone from Peapod to Instacart in the game, Amazon is trying to keep up with the latest in grocery — which in this case means grocery pickup.
“I don’t think there’s one modality for grocery shopping,” Kirthi Kalyanam, director of the Retail Management Institute at Santa Clara University’s Leavey School of Business, told the Business Journal. “Some customers are going to order online and are happy to have it delivered to the house. Some want to order online and pick it up on the way home. Even the same consumer has different shopping-delivery needs on different occasions. One thing we know is: The more options a company gives consumers from a retail shopping point of view, the better the chance of success.”
[vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row full_width=”” parallax=”” parallax_image=””][vc_column width=”1/1″][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][vc_single_image image=”148412″ alignment=”center” style=”vc_box_shadow_3d” border_color=”grey” img_link_large=”” img_link_target=”_blank” css_animation=”left-to-right” img_size=”full” link=”http://www.pymnts.com/whats-hot-today/”][vc_column_text css_animation=””]
To check out what else is HOT in the world of payments, click here.
[/vc_column_text][vc_separator color=”grey” align=”align_center” style=”” border_width=”” el_width=””][/vc_column][/vc_row]
We’re always on the lookout for opportunities to partner with innovators and disruptors.
Learn More