Amazon Is Launching New Grocery Store Brand Next Year
Coinspeaker
Amazon Is Launching New Grocery Store Brand Next Year
E-commerce retailing giant Amazon is planning to expand its reach in the food industry and open a new brand of grocery store. As CNET has reported, a new grocery store will be opened in Woodland Hills, California, in 2020.
Amazon spokesperson said:
“Amazon is opening a grocery store in Woodland Hills in 2020.”
When asked about Whole Foods acquired by Amazon for $13.7 billion in 2017, the company has stated it is going to make a new brand totally different from this network and Amazon Go stores.
The spokesperson commented:
“No, this store will not compete with Whole Foods Market. When it comes to grocery shopping, we know customers love choice and this new store offers another grocery option that’s distinct from Whole Foods Market, which continues to grow and remain the leader in quality natural and organic food.”
The store in Woodland Hills will become ‘Amazon’s first grocery store’. There is already a job posting for the new store manager, or ‘zone leader’. Amazon is offering full-time positions with competitive wages and benefits, with the starting pay rate for this role making up $16.90. The company is also considering opening stores in San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia and Washington, D.C. Currently, talks about this opportunity are held.
Despite owning Whole Foods, Amazon is an inconsiderable player in the food business. The market is dominated by Walmart that has an unprecedented amount of control over the food system and boasts a 90% market share. When the Amazon grocery store is open, everything can be changed.
However, Amazon should bear in mind that this initiative is a risky one. Firstly, building a strong and large chain of grocery stores is time-consuming. Secondly, it will not necessarily become a good moneymaker, as we can judge looking at Amazon’s other physical store lines, including Amazon Go and Amazon Books. Another important factor that determines success is the competition that is pretty tough in this market.
Recently, Amazon made an acquisition in the sphere of health care. As we have reported, the giant purchased Health Navigator, a company focused on developing APIs for online health services and providing evidence-based digital health information content. Health Navigator was supposed to join the membership of the Amazon Care group, a pilot healthcare service program developed to delivers prescriptions with remotely communicated treatment plans for Amazon employees.
Earlier, it was also revealed that Amazon is likely to announce its own cryptocurrency and compete with Facebook‘s Libra. As an analytics firm Cindicator believes, Amazon can be a really strong opponent for the messaging giant.