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Amazon Fresh

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Amazon Fresh
Company typeSubsidiary
IndustryRetail / Grocery
Founded2012; 12 years ago (2012)
Headquarters
Seattle, Washington
,
U.S.
Areas served
Delivery: United States, Berlin, London, Milan, Munich, Rome, Tokyo, Singapore, Madrid, India
Stores: Chicago, London, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Washington D.C., Bellevue, Paramus
ParentAmazon
Websiteamazon.com/fresh Edit this at Wikidata (US)

Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the American e-commerce company Amazon in Seattle, Washington. It is a grocery retailer with physical stores and delivery services in some U.S. cities, as well as some international cities, such as Berlin, Hamburg, London, Milan, Munich, Rome, and some other locations in Singapore and India.[1]

Amazon Fresh was initially a delivery service. In 2020 the concept changed to a chain of physical, cashier-less supermarkets.

Amazon Fresh in Sevenoaks, England

Delivery service

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An Amazon Fresh delivery truck in Seattle
Amazon Fresh convenience store in London, United Kingdom

Amazon Fresh started in 2007 as an invite-only grocery delivery service in Washington.[2] It rolled out its services gradually, targeting specific parts of various metropolitan areas and partnering with local speciality stores for delivery of local items. In March 2017, Amazon announced the beta launch of AmazonFresh Pickup, a drive-in grocery store for Amazon Prime subscribers where users shop online, reserve times to pick up the groceries, and have them loaded into their cars at the store.[3][4] In the United Kingdom, Amazon signed a deal with the British supermarket chain Morrisons to provide supplies for Amazon Prime Pantry and PrimeFresh.[5] In Germany, the product range is 85,000 product lines. By comparison, the REWE supermarket chain's home delivery service has 9,000 product lines.[6]

On November 2, 2017, Amazon announced it was discontinuing its Fresh service to some smaller towns and cities in California, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.[7]

Physical, cashier-less supermarkets

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Amazon Fresh grocery store in Warrington, Pennsylvania

In 2020, Amazon announced that they would use the name "Amazon Fresh" for their new chain of physical grocery stores in the Los Angeles and Chicago areas. The stores featured cashier-less (UK: till-less) shopping, with surveillance cameras and other technology ensuring that shoppers' purchases were automatically registered without needing to be individually scanned at a checkout counter. More than half use the "Just Walk Out" technology, while others use Dash Carts.[8]

Dash Carts are shopping carts with a touchscreen, barcode scanner, cameras, and various sensors to count items placed and removed from the cart, allowing customers to skip conventional checkouts. The customer scans a QR code from their Amazon app to link their Amazon account so their purchase can be billed through the payment method linked in their Amazon account.[9][10] The cart also has a weight sensor to weigh produce priced by weight.[11]

Some Amazon Fresh stores use "grab and go" or "Just Walk Out" technology similar to that in Amazon Go stores, which tracks what customers take and place back. It allows customers to skip conventional checkouts while also eliminating the need to use Dash Carts. While presented to customers as an automated process, it relied on an India-based team of over 1,000 human reviewers to verify checkout accuracy.[12] Currently, there are no Amazon Fresh stores that use both "grab and go" and Dash Carts.[13]

In April 2024, Amazon confirmed that the Just Walk Out technology would be phased out in favor of using Dash Carts at all Amazon Fresh locations.[12] Amazon still plans to sell the Just Walk Out technology to other businesses, primarily smaller format stores.[14]

Also in April 2024, Amazon began offering Dash Carts to other supermarkets, beginning with a small number of Price Chopper and McKeever’s Market locations located in Kansas and Missouri. The objective was to turn the technology into a service business. It follows Amazon selling the Just Walk Out technology to other businesses in March 2020.[15][16]

Due to criticism regarding Amazon Go stores not accepting cash, some Amazon Fresh stores also have checkout lanes for customers who want to pay with cash[10] or do not have an Amazon account.[citation needed]

Controversy

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A study of shoppers found that while customers appreciated not having to wait in line, they felt "a sense of embarrassment and doubt due to tracking and the over-control generated" by the very visible surveillance cameras through the Amazon Fresh stores.[17] The surveillance has been described as giving a "Big Brother" feel that challenges customers' trust.[18] This has been proposed as a possible reason for why customers tend to go to other nearby stores instead of Amazon Fresh.[8]

In 2021 a class-action law suit was filed against Amazon in New York for not alerting customers that it was monitoring their body shapes and palm prints.[19] Employees have also complained about excessive surveillance of workers in Amazon Fresh warehouses.[20]

Locations

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The first Amazon Fresh grocery store opened to the public on September 17, 2020, in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles.[21][22] By July 2022 Amazon Fresh had 38 locations in the states of California, Illinois, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Maryland, Washington, Washington, D.C., and New York/New Jersey.[23] On March 4, 2021, the first Amazon Fresh store in Europe was opened, in the Ealing Broadway Centre shopping mall in Ealing, West London,[24] and by June 2022, Amazon Fresh had 17 locations in London, UK.[25]

On November 17, 2022, it was reported that the development of all upcoming Amazon Fresh grocery stores had been indefinitely paused “pending evaluation of the operation.”[26] In February 2023 two Amazon Fresh storefronts that had not yet opened in Brookfield and Westport Connecticut were abandoned and sold to Big Y Supermarket.[27] In July 2023 three London locations were closed, including the first to be opened.[28] The company continued to state that it would continue to grow despite the closures and underwhelming sales figures.[29]

Product lines

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Amazon Fresh sells grocery items and a subset of items from the main Amazon.com storefront. Items ordered through Amazon Fresh are available for home delivery on the same day or the next day, depending on the time of the order and the availability of delivery slots.

Amazon Fresh operates independently of Whole Foods Market, which is also owned by Amazon. They have separate facilities and separate inventories that they sell. Market research from Amazon shows that customers at Amazon Fresh tend to have lower incomes and are more likely to be Hispanic or particularly Asian than customers of Whole Foods.[30]

Amazon Fresh store in Naperville, IL, with a Dash Cart in the background

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Lieferdienst für Lebensmittel: In dieser deutschen Stadt will "Amazon Fresh" nun starten" [“Amazon Fresh” now wants to start in this German city]. Frankfurter Allgemeine (in German). November 8, 2017. ISSN 0174-4909. Archived from the original on July 15, 2023. Retrieved February 19, 2020.
  2. ^ Park, JeeYeon (August 27, 2007). "Amazon Gets Fresh Challenges With New Grocery Business". CNBC. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  3. ^ Balakrishnan, Anita (March 28, 2017). "Amazon Prime members can soon buy groceries from their phones, and have them delivered to their cars". CNBC. Archived from the original on March 29, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  4. ^ Etherington, Darrell (March 28, 2017). "Amazon debuts AmazonFresh Pickup, drive-up groceries delivered to your trunk". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on March 28, 2017. Retrieved March 29, 2017.
  5. ^ Ruddick, Graham (February 29, 2016). "Amazon to start selling fresh and frozen Morrisons food". The Guardian. Archived from the original on May 15, 2020. Retrieved April 28, 2018.
  6. ^ Heuzeroth, Thomas (May 4, 2017). "Amazon Fresh: Lebensmittelversand startet in Deutschland". DIE WELT. Archived from the original on June 30, 2019. Retrieved September 27, 2018.
  7. ^ Del Rey, Jason (November 3, 2017). "Amazon is shutting down its Fresh grocery delivery service in parts of five states". Recode. Archived from the original on November 3, 2017. Retrieved November 3, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Kaye, Danielle (August 2, 2023). "Amazon may have met its match in the grocery aisles". NPR.
  9. ^ Graham, Jefferson (August 27, 2020). "Amazon Fresh opens first supermarket in Los Angeles with checkout in cart". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  10. ^ a b Brown, Dalvin (July 14, 2020). "Dash Cart: Amazon's smart shopping cart knows what you're getting, displays your subtotal". USA TODAY. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  11. ^ Statt, Nick (July 14, 2020). "Amazon's new smart shopping cart lets you check out without a cashier". The Verge. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  12. ^ a b Zeff, Maxwell (April 2, 2024). "Amazon Ditches 'Just Walk Out' Checkouts at Its Grocery Stores". Gizmodo. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  13. ^ Guerrero, Rafael (March 3, 2022). "Second Amazon Fresh store opens in Naperville and features 'Just Walk Out' technology". chicagotribune.com. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  14. ^ Hadero, Haleluya (April 17, 2024). "Amazon is removing Just Walk Out at its grocery stores and plans to sell the tech to businesses". Fastcompany. Retrieved September 4, 2024.
  15. ^ Palmer, Annie (April 17, 2024). "Amazon starts selling smart grocery carts to other retailers". CNBC. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  16. ^ Palmer, Annie (March 9, 2020). "Amazon starts selling cashierless checkout technology to other retailers". CNBC. Retrieved April 17, 2024.
  17. ^ Bentalha, Badr; Hmioui, Aziz (2022). "Smart Service Supply Chain and Just Walk Out Technology: A Netnographic Approach". In Ben Ahmed, Mohamed; Boudhir, Anouar Abdelhakim; Karaș, İsmail Rakıp; Jain, Vipul; Mellouli, Sehl (eds.). Innovations in Smart Cities Applications Volume 5. Lecture Notes in Networks and Systems. Vol. 393. Cham: Springer International Publishing. pp. 223–236. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-94191-8_18. ISBN 978-3-030-94191-8.
  18. ^ Crane, Olivia; associate; Speechlys2021-08-26T08:54:00+01:00, Charles Russell. "Checkout-less stores like Amazon Fresh need robust data protection policies". The Grocer. Retrieved October 9, 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  19. ^ "Amazon sued for not telling New York store customers about tracking biometrics". NBC News. March 17, 2023. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  20. ^ Greene, Jay (December 14, 2021). "Amazon's employee surveillance fuels unionization efforts: 'It's not prison, it's work'". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  21. ^ Peterson, Hayley (September 17, 2020). "'It was like the Willy Wonka golden ticket': Amazon customer reveals his first experience inside the tech giant's new grocery store that just opened to the public". Business Insider. Archived from the original on September 18, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  22. ^ Bonifacic, Igor (September 17, 2020). "Amazon Fresh grocery store in Los Angeles opens to the public". Engadget. Archived from the original on September 20, 2020. Retrieved September 26, 2020.
  23. ^ "Store Locations". www.amazon.com. Archived from the original on February 12, 2021. Retrieved February 11, 2021.
  24. ^ Kelion, Leo (March 4, 2021). "Amazon Fresh till-less grocery store opens in London". BBC News. Archived from the original on March 4, 2021. Retrieved March 4, 2021.
  25. ^ "Amazon Fresh stores. Now open in London". www.amazon.co.uk. Archived from the original on June 10, 2022. Retrieved June 10, 2022.
  26. ^ Ciliberti, Dino (November 17, 2022). "Amazon Fresh Store Delayed From Possible Bensalem Township Opening". Bensalem, PA Patch. Archived from the original on December 8, 2022. Retrieved December 8, 2022.
  27. ^ Turmelle, Luther (January 26, 2024). "Why Amazon Fresh is taking a pass on Connecticut as Big Y steps in". www.ctinsider.com. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  28. ^ Kelly, Liv (July 25, 2023). "Three Amazon Fresh stores have closed in London". Time Out London. Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  29. ^ Houlton, Cara (July 26, 2023). "Why is Amazon Fresh not clicking with UK shoppers? - Grocery Gazette - Latest Grocery Industry News". Retrieved October 9, 2023.
  30. ^ Amazon Fresh vs. Whole Foods vs. All of Grocery, Jennifer Strailey, Winsight Grocery Business, May 3, 2021. https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/retailers/amazon-fresh-vs-whole-foods-vs-all-grocery Archived August 11, 2021, at the Wayback Machine
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