Amazon Fresh checkout-free stores in the UK have launched a free Gift Wrap Grotto.
‘The Gift Wrapping Queen’ Jane Means and her team will be available from noon until 8pm on 12-13th December at Amazon Fresh Wembley and on 19-20th December at Amazon Fresh Sevenoaks to wrap customers’ presents.
Gifts can be ordered from Amazon.co.uk and delivered via Click and Collect to the Amazon Hub Pickup & Returns counter in-store.
“It’s expensive to get into retail and even more expensive to remain”
In August, Amazon put the brakes on the expansion of its UK checkout-free convenience stores, due to sales falling short of expectations and fit out costs being multiple times higher than with a standard location.
According to a report by The Sunday Times, the US giant was understood to have walked away from talks on dozens of sites for Amazon Fresh stores, and stopped its search for more locations.
There were still a handful of openings this year at sites where Amazon had already committed to a lease.
In a LinkedIn post, Martin Heubel, an Amazon strategy consultant, said: “Not a major surprise amid the current economic climate. It’s expensive to get into retail and even more expensive to remain.”
“With inflation at all time highs, customers are prioritising to save money. Even the most advanced self-checkout technology won’t revert this trend in the short-term. It seems, Amazon has come to realise this, too.”
Amazon’s first checkout-free store in the UK opened in March last year, in Ealing, west London. Since then, it has opened another 18 stores, predominantly in the capital.
A spokesperson told RTIH: “I can confirm that we will continue to open Amazon Fresh stores and look forward to opening more in the future.”
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