Amazon has now opened a dozen locations of its technology-driven grocery store concept, Amazon Fresh, with its latest store opening in Long Beach, Calif. The ecommerce giant launched its first Amazon Fresh store, which is designed to incorporate Amazon features such as Alexa and Prime into the in-store shopping experience, in late August in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. The company now has eight Amazon Fresh stores in southern California and four in Illinois, with confirmed plans to open stores in Woodland Park and Paramus, N.J., as well as in Seattle and Bellevue, Wash.
Tech features of the new concept — ranging in size from 30,000 to 45,000 square feet — include the Amazon Dash Cart, which enables customers to skip the checkout line. Customers place their bags in the cart, sign in using their Fresh QR code in the Amazon app, shop and exit through the Dash Cart lane to automatically complete their transaction. The cart uses a combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify which items have been put in the cart.
Additionally, Alexa integration helps customers manage their shopping lists and better navigate the aisles. Shoppers can access their Alexa shopping list through the Amazon app or on the Amazon Dash Cart, while Amazon Echo Show devices throughout the store are available to ask Alexa for help locating items.
Designed as a seamless shopping experience whether customers are shopping in-store or online, Amazon Fresh emphasizes “low prices for all” and free same-day delivery and pickup for Prime members. The stores offer an assortment of national brands and produce, meat and seafood, as well as prepared foods made daily in store.
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“Amazon Fresh was designed from the ground up to offer a seamless grocery shopping experience, whether customers are shopping in-store or online,” said an Amazon spokesperson in an interview with Retail TouchPoints. “We innovate on behalf of our customers across all of our businesses, and that includes the grocery space. We obsess over the things our customers care about like low prices, convenience and great selection, while also working to simplify the online and in-store grocery shopping experience.”
