Amazon.com Inc has established itself as one of the most versatile business line with heaps of products available on its e-commerce site. To add to its line of business it has now also opened brick and mortar grocery stores. The stores are opened in Seattle and the most exclusive part of the stores is its line free checkout counters. The inclusion of this line of business by Amazon will definitely be a competition for the existing supermarkets.
Addition of Amazon Go
Amazon Go is new online shopping line from the company that is spread across 1,800 square foot and has gone into new technology drive method for convenience of shoppers. It has sensors that detect the items picked by the shoppers and the bill is sent to the customers Amazon account. The best part is the customer can pick anything without the hassle of standing in queue for making payment. The store currently has groceries and home based stuffs available via its Amazon Fresh Service. The start of this store will be a competition to the existing chain of supermarkets and as mentioned by analyst Jan Dawson of Jackdaw Research – “If there were hundreds of these stores around the country, it would be a huge threat to supermarket chains.”
Future plans by Amazon
As of now the store has been opened only in Seattle more like a test model. As of now the Amazon Go store is available only for the employees of the company but as mentioned by Amazon it is most likely to be opened for public by next year. As reported by Wall Street Journal if the test stores run successfully and are able to give appropriate business, Amazon is planning to open around 2,000 grocery stores. It is also considering opening up of stores enabling customers to pick goods from curbside.
Conclusion
If the plan by Amazon sees success it will be a tough competition to the existing chains of supermarkets. The bigger advantage of Amazon Go will be line free shopping as it will save lot of time of the customers and make the whole process of shopping quick for customers as well as for the billing team. It is yet to be ascertained on how Amazon is to start using the model but it is expecting to open it for public use by next year.