Bloomberg reports that Amazon-owned Whole Foods plans to open a new small format – between 7,000 and 14,000 square feet – “aimed at serving quick-trip urban consumers.”
The first Whole Foods Market Daily Shop is slated to open on Manhattan’s Upper West Side this fall, and Bloomberg reports that the retailer has signed five leases in New York City, with expectations that it will also move into other urban markets in the US.
The story says that the Daily Shop “will offer a similar but slimmer assortment of products, ranging from fresh produce and frozen food to prepackaged meals and Whole Foods’ 365 branded products. The locations won’t have buffet bars or meat counters … All products sold will follow Whole Foods’ quality standards banning ingredients like high-fructose corn syrup.”
The announcement press release says that “Whole Foods Market Daily Shop will provide a convenient option for grab-and-go meals and snacks, weekly essentials, and a quick, easy destination to pick up ingredients to complete a meal – with all items meeting the company’s rigorous quality standards. Though smaller, the stores will still offer Whole Foods Market favorites, including an ample selection of fresh, seasonal produce, meat and seafood, prepared foods like sandwiches and pre-packed meals, breads, alcohol, and supplements, as well as a handpicked range of local specialties and our own 365 by Whole Foods Market brand. In addition, the location that is expected to open this year will be the first Whole Foods Market store in Manhattan to offer Juice & Java, a venue for coffee, tea, fresh pressed juices, smoothies, sandwiches, soups and various desserts.”
As currently conceived, the store will have both staffed and self-checkout, and will utilize Amazon One, the biometric payment system that is being rolled out throughout the company’s more traditional fleet of 530 stores.
“The introduction of home delivery has changed customers’ mentality. People want things fast,” Christina Minardi, executive vice president of growth and development at Whole Foods Market and Amazon, tells Bloomberg, adding that she “has been thinking about a smaller, convenience store-type format since 2010, and her team started building out the concept over the last two years. Bigger space is hard to find in urban markets and smaller stores require less time to design and open, she added.”
Here are some images provided by Whole Foods:
KC’s View:
The betting here has been that Amazon could decide to get out of the physical store business with the exception of its Whole Foods business, and I actually think that this could be a step in that direction.
While I continue to believe that checkout-free technology like that pioneered by Amazon Go will eventually be as ubiquitous as scanning, it clearly is going to take a long time. Plus, the company has struggled to come up with a compelling, scalable, viable bricks-and-mortar format. It makes complete sense to let Whole Foods – which is an established and successful retail brand – carry the water when it comes to physical stores.
Now, The Information reports that the new Whole Foods Market Daily Shop won’t have the Just Walk Out tech used in Amazon Go stores, but that probably makes sense. As the company opens these stores and tests various iterations, it might be cumbersome to also outfit them with checkout-free systems. But down the road, it would seem to be a natural evolution, especially as costs come down.
One thing not mentioned in any of the Whole Foods materials or media coverage is the degree to which these units could serve as pickup locations for orders placed online. I’m not sure if the footprint will allow this, but I have to imagine that Amazon and Whole Foods will want to allow for the possibility as consumer behavior continues to evolve.
I think this is a really smart move, and opens a path for Amazon to get out of the physical store business under its own banner while continuing to invest in bricks-and-mortar stores in a more sensible fashion.
The post Whole Foods To Debut New Small Format Store appeared first on MNB.
View Original Article
