We had a terrific piece this week by industry veteran Dick Spezzano assessing Amazon Fresh, and MNB reader Steven Ritchey responded:
People like Dick Spezzano are invaluable as someone giving a “boots on the ground” perspective, as well as a seasoned, veteran of food retailing, cherish those people. You can learn a lot from them, hell, I can learn a lot from them and I’ve been at it for 50 years.
In reading his review of Amazon Fresh I had two things that jumped out at me.
First, the comment about OOS’s and the auto ordering being difficult to override. To me this is an example of the employee or store working for the technology, not the technology working for the store. I see it in some chains in the Dallas area, Target being one of them, pulling stock from the backroom almost takes an act of God because of the onerous inventory control system that may do a great job of tracking inventory, but a lousy job of letting you use the inventory and sell it.
Second, the whiz kids he talked about visiting growers. They were so wedded to their technology, they forgot, or maybe never learned, that you are buying FROM people and selling TO people, machines don’t do that, computers don’t do that, people do. Don’t get so wedded to your technology prowess, even if it is superior to the competition that you forget that food retailing, like any other retailing is a people driven business.
Now, I’ve not seen an Amazon Fresh store as we don’t have them in the Dallas, TX area, at least as far as I know. I do know that HEB would eat them alive here. But, I have seen what I think afflicts Amazon Fresh. People forget that retailing is a boots on the ground business, out in the stores is where the rubber meets the road. The best of them understand this, and have the emphasis on the stores and customer experience, the corporate office and management serves the stores, not the other way around. Retailing, and in particular food retailing is a people oriented business, eating is very personal, the food we put in our bodies is very personal. Technology has it’s place, but it’s not totally a technology driven enterprise.
MNB reader Dale Tillotson responded to one specific observation from Dick Spezzano:
Difficult to override automatic ordering.
This appears the latest in excuses for companies to put the blame on, when the companies are the party to blame for instituting the system, leaving the in store personal to handle the customer complaints they have no control over.
Sadly artificial intelligence is replacing genuine intelligence.
MNB reader Skye Lininger had some thoughts about our piece about how Amazon seems to be blurring the line between its Whole Foods business and its traditional offerings, as it allows customers at a couple of its stores to order from Amazon online and pick up their products while at Whole Foods:
You know New Seasons Markets well. Stan Amy, its founder, always said, “The magic is in the mix.” As you know, New Seasons has both conventional and natural items. He believed shoppers wanted to make fewer not more trips. By offering conventional alongside natural you saved them a trip.
Our family shops: New Seasons/Natural Grocers/Whole Foods (depending on which of us is shopping), QFC (part of Kroger), Costco (once a month), and Trader Joes (for a few items). We try to consolidate as much as possible so we don’t have to shop multiple times at various stores. WF delivery is the best of all where we can order a dozen Kombucha from a wider selection and a better price with free (Prime) delivery.
So, the focus should be on the mix and its magic to make life easier, faster, and cheaper for the shopper. I think WF will figure this out and increase market share without hurting its core value proposition. We are not in the day of Peter Roy, John Mackey, and Sandy Gooch any longer. We are in the era of AI, smart phones, robotic delivery (coming soon), robotic pick and pack (here already). We’ll see how it plays out, and we’ll see if Stan’s initial insight is not just the past but the future.
Could be right. I think the only difference is that this was baked into New Seasons’ DNA, and this is a new move for Whole Foods that seems at odds with its traditional value proposition.
Responding to our piece about how business is down for many fast casual restaurants, one MNB reader wrote:
Just a personal observation on fast casual and, well, all dining out. I’m on a GLP1 drug that is helping a ton with my A1c and is making me a lot less hungry. The last time my partner and I went out for dinner I brought so much of my meal home that it ended up being four meals. There’s no need to go out as much when there is so much food. I’d rather have good food at home in a reasonable portion with more variety. But even when it comes to groceries at the grocery store we’re buying a lot less so both restaurants and the grocery store are seeing fewer of our dollars (even with inflation we’re spending less on groceries than we used to.
Same here. Most of the time when we go out to eat, we end up with at least one meal the next day.
I said this about GLP-1 drugs this week:
I’ve said it before – it makes no sense for insurance companies to deny coverage for medications that are likely to save them all sorts of money on the back end when people have fewer heart attacks and strokes, and need fewer knee and hip replacements.
One MNB reader responded:
I think you are missing the fact that many people and companies change carriers annually to chase the best premiums. An insurer today is not incentivized to make a person healthier over a couple of years, when they won’t likely be insuring them. Insurers are focused on fixing what is wrong with you today as cheaply as possible.
This drug family might need to fall into what the government identifies as a “Preventative Service”, and force insurers to provide coverage as a betterment to all. Or maybe employers could offer some GLP benefit to employees on the side in hopes it would improve employee health and performance, and save them premium dollars. I could see such a deal being made between employers and insurers.
I did a FaceTime video this week comparing how some kids will take all the Halloween candy when folks leave it at the front door in a bucket, but how there was a story about how one Colorado kid, finding an empty bucket while out trick-or-treating, left some of his own candy so later kids wouldn’t be disappointed. It gave me hope.
MNB reader Thomas Parkinson responded:
Your video on Halloween was so right. Two years ago, my wife and I had to be somewhere else, so we left a plastic caldron of candy on our doorstep. When we got home around 5:30 (trick or treating starts at 3:00 in our neighborhood), not only was the candy all gone, but also the caldron.
One thing I remember as a high schooler, we didn’t trick or treat after 8th grade, but I see many high school kids, in barely a costume (like just a Blackhawks jersey), trick or treating. I kind of feel like they are too old for it, and I suspect, with no evidence, that high schoolers are more likely to seize the opportunity.
Bad parenting, I think.
Another MNB reader wrote:
We get between 300 – 400 trick-or-treaters at our house for Halloween. My wife and I are in our garage handing out candy. There were a couple of instances where we were not near the bowl of candy and a couple of kids took big handfuls. When we reminded them that it is only one piece each, they sadly put the excess back without any issues. I totally agree that if you are going to take your kids out for candy, then you need to be handing out candy as well. A lot of parents dress up and come out in our neighborhood so there were no issues. The kids were well behaved. We are always appreciative of the parents/adults that remind their children to say thank you. Our house was popular because I have a 65′ Flat Screen tv in the garage and had game 6 of the World Series on. Lots of adults asked what the score was throughout the evening. We also gave out dog treats to people trick-or-treating with their dogs. The dog parents always thanked us. It was a festive and well behaved night.
Good parenting, I think.
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