Amazon Offers Seamless Grocery Shopping Across Its Online and Physical Stores
Amazon is mixing and matching its offerings and using its fulfillment and delivery services in innovative ways to make it seamless for consumers to shop across its online and physical stores.
The e-commerce giant has introduced three new ways that it's making grocery shopping faster and easier.
1. Consumers can get groceries and everyday popular items delivered together through Same-Day and Overnight Delivery. Amazon is running a trial in the greater Phoenix area in which Prime members can now shop tens of thousands of grocery items — including fresh groceries — alongside millions of Amazon.com products, and have them delivered, together, in hours.
“It’s Amazon’s unparalleled selection under one roof, coupled with Same-Day Delivery speeds and multiple delivery window options, that sets this experience apart,” wrote Tony Hoggett, SVP of worldwide grocery stores at Amazon in an online post. “We’re going to continue to expand to more locations as we test and learn with this model. Over time, we expect to see more and more customers using Same-Day Delivery from Amazon to shop for fresh groceries or get ingredients for meals.”
2. Consumers will see broader selection from other stores when shopping with Amazon Fresh Online. Amazon is expanding its range of products within some of its Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers (FCs).
“Imagine one online ordering experience where you can get your natural and organic ingredients from Whole Foods Market, favorite brands and low-cost snacks from Amazon Fresh, plus socks and a tennis racket, all delivered to your door in a single Amazon Fresh order,” wrote Hoggett.
That’s possible because Amazon has modified 26 Amazon Fresh FCs around the world to offer more choices on Amazon.com, so customers can get everything they need for their routine grocery shopping trip in one online order. “With this model, we can offer a wide range of products covering groceries and popular everyday products, different flavors and size packs, organic and specialty dietary restrictions, national and local offerings, and so much more,” wrote Hoggett. “We can also span a wide range of price tiers, from our private-brand labels like Amazon Saver that offer most products under $5, to household favorites like Coke, Kraft and Tide, and even premium ingredients for special occasions.”
Amazon plans to convert more of its existing FCs to this model over time.
3. Consumers can pick up more grocery and household goods while shopping at Whole Foods Market. At a Whole Foods store in Plymouth Meeting, Pa., Amazon is building the company’s first-ever automated micro-fulfillment center to supplement what’s in store with products from Amazon.com and Amazon Fresh, all under one roof. Customers will have three options to seamlessly shop the retailer’s combined range of products: order online for fast at-home delivery, order online for quick and easy pickup, or shop in person at the store.
“Let’s imagine a customer is shopping in store,” wrote Hoggett. “As they browse the aisles for their favorite Whole Foods Market products, they can also easily place an order for Tide Pods and Pepsi from the Amazon app on their phone. These additional items will be prepared in the back-of-house while the customer finishes up shopping, and will be ready to go when they check out — all within minutes after placing the order. With micro fulfillment, customers get access to more products they want without having to visit multiple stores. This service will be ready for customers at our Plymouth Meeting location next year.”
VIDEO: Amazon’s 1st-Ever Automated Micro-Fulfillment Center
The core of Amazon’s strategy is realizing that customers want choice when it comes to groceries and the ability to easily shop for different products, price points and occasions, no matter if they shop online or in a store.
"We’ll do this by connecting our grocery stores and fulfillment centers across the world, alongside 20-plus local grocery partners, with Amazon’s huge product selection, and strengthening our capabilities to serve all of customers’ shopping needs," added Hoggett.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. PG also named the company one of its Retailers of the Century.
