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Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

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Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#31

Post by dahdum »

mc32 wrote: post #26
anth_anm wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whole Foods already carries all that stuff.

They do, but they don’t carry the mainstream versions of things: GUS soda instead of Coke/Pepsi. Cape Cod snacks instead of Doritoes. The thing I hate is they don’t carry regular Aspirin or Tylenol, Nyquil (your usual and basic over the counter medicines) instead they carry ‘homeopathic’ whatever useless ‘natural’ ‘medicines’ & ‘supplements’

The fact they sell and promote that garbage is far more telling of their corporate values than avoiding HFCS, IMHO.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#32

Post by 01100011 »

ip26 wrote: post #28
gamegoblin wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes, I imagine a store in which you just walk around and scan QR codes on your phone and your bagged groceries are waiting for you when you walk out (all paid for on the app, too, so no checkout).

How is that better? It saves you from... pushing a cart? Not to mention, until robots can handle every variety of produce and package, isn't the real life manifestation basically going to be a sixteen year old dashing about in a mirror-store hidden in the back, tracing your footsteps, picking up the things you scan, and putting them in a cart?

It allows a store to open where it might not have been profitable or possible. It saves you money by allowing the retailer to lower prices.

Imagine being able to open a Walmart Supercenter in the middle of, say, San Francisco(like that would ever happen but anyway). They'd never be able to afford the real estate for a traditional supercenter, but they might be able to afford a super-tower.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#33

Post by 01100011 »

bduerst wrote: post #14
what_ever wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think the parent comment means people putting things in the bag. They just walk with phone, scan the items they want to buy which get added to bag automatically by robot/someone else and customer just walks to the counter at the end to pick up their bag.

I see, my bad. Still, why even walk around empty aisles full of food pictures then? It seems like a strange UI for something that could just happen in the app before you even get to the store. Seems like a waste of space too since everything will be itemized and stored in the back on shelves as well. I understand that user behavior doesn't turn on a dime but Amazon customers are already used to ordering online.

I'm saying have items for display to allow for browsing. You don't need shelf space for 24 boxes of cereal - you keep them upstairs. The aisles can be narrower(no carts, shallower shelves) and you still have the experience of browsing and getting people to make impulse decisions. It's like a hybrid between browsing Amazon and being in a real store.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#34

Post by swozey »

anth_anm wrote: post #15
manav wrote: post #10

I think the average Whole Foods has plenty of wasted space and that they could easily start to carry products that the average consumer has to go to a normal grocery/convenience store to buy (liquor, snacks, candy, soda, beauty etc). I don't think it will diminish from the experience. Plenty of higher end grocery stores do the same, even with a smaller footprint.

Whole Foods already carries all that stuff.

Last time I went to WF I went just for cold medicine (OTC robitussin, etc) they didn't have anything but more "natural" options. It was probably a year ago. Color me dumb, I usually shop at HEB but the WF was on the way. That really surprised me. Pretty sure I left empty handed.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#35

Post by 01100011 »

bduerst wrote: post #11
01100011 wrote: post #3

Smart move. Whole Foods has a limited appeal. It's not just price - sometimes people want to buy Cheetos or pizza rolls that don't taste like cardboard. Slightly related thought: Why not design a store which allows instant fulfillment from a wide selection of goods while taking up less ground level space? I could see an Amazon/Walmart/etc store where you reserve the shelf space for presentation, but the goods are act…

Do we really need another grocery store chain though? Whole Foods cornered the high-end grocery market (or created it, if you want to debate). Introducing yet another generic grocery chain to the already saturated, age-old red ocean market doesn't seem reasonable unless they're trying to create walk-up warehouses for online grocery delivery.

I welcome Amazon's attempt to bring changes to the existing grocery store market. Maybe they'll figure something out, or maybe they'll fail. Either way, I'm happy to have more options as a consumer.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#36

Post by manav »

mc32 wrote: post #26
anth_anm wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whole Foods already carries all that stuff.

They do, but they don’t carry the mainstream versions of things: GUS soda instead of Coke/Pepsi. Cape Cod snacks instead of Doritoes. The thing I hate is they don’t carry regular Aspirin or Tylenol, Nyquil (your usual and basic over the counter medicines) instead they carry ‘homeopathic’ whatever useless ‘natural’ ‘medicines’ & ‘supplements’

Those aisles along with clothing are really the most useless ones in the stores I've been to. Can't imagine people really buy that stuff.

Amazon has a big opportunity there as well. They've just started their vitamin Solimo brand which is actually decent, and private-labelling generic drugs is just easy money for most retailers.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#37

Post by manav »

swozey wrote: post #34
anth_anm wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Whole Foods already carries all that stuff.

Last time I went to WF I went just for cold medicine (OTC robitussin, etc) they didn't have anything but more "natural" options. It was probably a year ago. Color me dumb, I usually shop at HEB but the WF was on the way. That really surprised me. Pretty sure I left empty handed.

HEB is far superior to anything we have in California.

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#38

Post by ip26 »

Skunkleton wrote: post #30
ip26 wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is that better? It saves you from... pushing a cart? Not to mention, until robots can handle every variety of produce and package, isn't the real life manifestation basically going to be a sixteen year old dashing about in a mirror-store hidden in the back, tracing your footsteps, picking up the things you scan, and putting them in a cart?

A few reasons: 1. Potential for less waste through 1) people not avoiding ugly produce, 2) not leaving refrigerated stuff on a non-refrigerated shelf, 3) leaving freezer doors open, 4) stealing things. 2. Less congestion in the browsing section. 3. Better stock tracking. 4. Easier stock management. You don't have to have people move stock between a warehouse and a shelf. 5. And yes, you don't have to push a cart. The…

I think this is what culture shock feels like. I truly struggle to imagine a people for whom being relieved of the great burden of pushing a grocery cart is actually a significant pro. Do these people even cook food?

Wrt 3 & 4, when you've practically got two whole stores, one with stocked product and one with QR codes, you're not saving space or stock management. (You're not going to go straight from shipping boxes to customer's hands)

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#39

Post by sigstoat »

01100011 wrote: post #3

Smart move. Whole Foods has a limited appeal. It's not just price - sometimes people want to buy Cheetos or pizza rolls that don't taste like cardboard. Slightly related thought: Why not design a store which allows instant fulfillment from a wide selection of goods while taking up less ground level space? I could see an Amazon/Walmart/etc store where you reserve the shelf space for presentation, but the goods are act…

> I could see an Amazon/Walmart/etc store where you reserve the shelf space for presentation, but the goods are actually stored on higher floors and delivered to the customer upon checkout?

let's you decouple storage location from presentation location. i assume the grocery store knows what items are most frequently purchased together, and ensures they're as far apart as possible in presentation-space. but in this model they could then keep them nearby in storage-space, making it easier for them to load your bag up.

(also the instant you walk in, they can probably figure out the things you're most likely to get, and move them to some staging area to go in your bag as soon as you scan it.)

Re: Amazon to open grocery chain separate from Whole Foods

#40

Post by nickpsecurity »

eunoia wrote: post #16
jchallis wrote: post #2

Does your business 1) work in retail and 2) have more than 2% margin? Then Amazon is coming for you.

This is clever. So I'm curious, how is Amazon able to execute so effectively in so many different spaces? It would seem to me that any company endlessly extending itself into new markets is doomed to lose sight of its core competencies and eventually collapse under it's own weight. And yet Amazon still grows, and keeps executing. How is this possible? Is the 6 page memo the magic sauce of sprawling corporate empire g…

They appear to have a strong focus on what customers actually want, hire bright people to figure out how to build it, are willing to gamble on some of it even if boss disagrees, make sure they keep whatever they build lean + scalable, use that to be profitable at scale on low margins, and tie stuff together as much as they can for higher satisfaction of customers and cross-selling them.

I'm not an Amazon guy or customer. Just guessing from what I read. I am pretty sure that lots of big businesses going cheap on or ignoring workers' advice, investing in expensive or inflexible systems, and pretending to listen to their customers contributes to their loss of market share to both startups with high customer focus + flexibility and pivoting behemoths like Amazon that emulate that.

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