Destination Amazon: How Amazon Fresh Unlocks New Ways of Shopping

Meredith Bunche, head of growth and marketing for Amazon Fresh, joins the TWIG Podcast to explore how that ever-growing company is firing on all cylinders in the physical and digital space.

Amazon, which recently confirmed that it is moving to a “one grocery” approach that encompasses brick-and-mortar Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods Market stores as well as its robust digital business, continues to innovate and tweak its operations to meet its strategic goals. During her 12 years at Amazon, Meredith has had a front seat – and a driver’s seat at times – on the organization’s grocery journey. 

"We’re going to continue to have new iterations, which is exciting. But how do we really bring those together in a way that is going to enable us to serve customers better – not just thinking about the Amazon Fresh brand but how do we as a collective Amazon grocery business unlock new selection, new opportunities and new ways of shopping for our customers?” she says.

At the crux of the strategy is providing solutions for shoppers’ varying needs and locations. “That’s where we’re focused today, continuing to think about different customer missions and how we can serve them through each banner and, even more importantly, how we can serve them collectively through our collection of retail banners,” Meredith explains.

As she points out, the average consumer shops across four or five different grocery retailers as they are on their grocery mission. “Our thinking is, ‘What if we can serve those customer needs through one familiar relationship with Amazon, where you can go to Whole Foods Market for your organic and specialty items, you can go to Amazon Fresh for your center store and then you can shop on Amazon for your large pack sizes?” Meredith points out.

The customer-centric approach is based on Amazon’s longstanding philosophy of listening to its shoppers and not being afraid to try new things. “Our test-and-learn mindset helps us react to what customer want and to continue to get better. I like to say that ‘Launch is not the finish line – it’s the starting line’,” Meredith says.

She shares several examples of how that test-and-learn approach has resulted in wins for Amazon and its customers, such as the Dash Cart, the rollout and revamp of Amazon Fresh stores and the expansion of store brand products. Meredith also gets candid about how the company has allowed her to professionally and personally pursue the principles of curiosity and deep dives.

Watch the complete episode to learn more about how Amazon and its banners, including Amazon Fresh, are putting principles into action to deliver on shopper’s needs at multiple touchpoints.

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Progressive Grocer’s podcast focuses on the trends, topics and interests that move women forward in grocery retail. If you have an idea for a TWIG podcast topic, contact lpetrak@ensembleiq.com and/or ecrowe@ensembleiq.com.