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In 2020 my beloved local Fairway<\/strong> went under, and for five<\/strong> years the store space has languished, sitting dark and empty alongside several other shuttered chains: Modell\u2019s<\/strong>, Subway <\/strong>(although somehow the Kohl\u2019s <\/strong>has survived). However, one<\/strong> month ago the lights turned back on \u2014 with bright green flag chains strung across the parking lot and a large banner, Amazon Fresh<\/strong> announced that it was now open for business. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\nOn Sunday I did my weekly shopping at the store to find out if Amazon Fresh might be able to fill the hole left by Fairway, literally and figuratively. Here\u2019s what I discovered about Amazon\u2019s latest wave of grocery retail development:<\/p>\n
First, a Little Fresh History<\/strong><\/h2>\nThose of you who have followed the Amazon grocery saga know that the tech giant has struggled to find its footing in this category since its 2017 $13.7 billion<\/strong>\u00a0acquisition of Whole Foods<\/strong>. While Whole Foods\u2019 performance has remained strong, Amazon has received mixed results with its efforts to integrate its tech into the Whole Foods stores while at the same time building out the separate Fresh banner. \u00a0<\/p>\nNew Fresh builds were put on an\u00a0indefinite hold\u00a0in 2023, and some stores were shuttered as Amazon executed what Coresight Research\u00a0described as \u201ca brick-and-mortar retreat to grocery.\u201d (Amazon\u2019s other attempts at brick-and-mortar have fared even more poorly. See the closure of Amazon Style; the 2022 closure\u00a0of all\u00a0Amazon 4-star<\/strong>,\u00a0Books<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Pop Up<\/strong>\u00a0stores; and the Amazon Go<\/strong> pullback and pause.)\u00a0<\/p>\n\n
Inside a new Amazon Fresh. (Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nBut Amazon isn\u2019t ready to give up on having a grocery store that carries its name, so in August 2023 the company revamped its Fresh store design, beginning with two stores in Illinois. The gist of the redesign was a renewed focus on product selection and layout<\/strong>, essentially bringing the stores more in line with core grocery tenets: more than\u00a02,000<\/strong>\u00a0national and private label products were added, prices were lowered, promotions were increased, signage was refreshed and made clearer.<\/p>\n\u201cWe see price as an important differentiator for Amazon Fresh customers and as a result, over the last year we have lowered the prices on\u00a0thousands<\/strong>\u00a0of items and\u00a0tripled<\/strong>\u00a0the size of the promotions we offer, delivering\u00a0millions<\/strong>\u00a0of dollars in savings to customers,\u201d said Claire Peters, Worldwide VP of Amazon Fresh when the store improvements were rolled out in 2023. \u201cWe\u2019re especially excited about the redesigned Amazon Fresh stores and the positive feedback we\u2019re hearing from our customers in Chicago. But that doesn\u2019t mean our job is done. We will continue to iterate and experiment, introducing new features and programs in our Amazon Fresh stores to better serve our customers.\u201d<\/p>\nAmazon Fresh is Big, Bright; Focus on Price is Clear<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
(Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nPerhaps more so than in any other category, design takes a back seat to function at grocery. It doesn\u2019t matter how fresh and fun your store looks, if it doesn\u2019t have the products and experience consumers want, they won\u2019t be back. Balancing its signature innovation impulse with the expectations of customers in a needs-based category has been one of Amazon\u2019s biggest stumbling blocks with grocery.<\/strong> With the new Fresh stores, Amazon seems to be closer to finding the right balance, but it\u2019s still missing the mark on some of the grocery basics.<\/p>\nAs one might expect with a completely new build-out, the new Amazon Fresh in Woodland Park, N.J. is clean, spacious and bright. Signage abounds, much of it focused on the savings that Prime members enjoy. Larger directional wall signage subtly draws on the aesthetic of Whole Foods\u2019 365<\/strong> private label brand in both color scheme and vibe, and indeed the brand is present throughout the store.<\/p>\n\n
Amazon Fresh entrance filled with Dash Carts. (Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nCustomers enter through a lobby filled with Amazon Dash Carts (the company\u2019s smart carts), and signage explaining how to use them. (Regular carts, albeit green, are available outside.) Within the store itself, shoppers are greeted by a full-service Krispy Kreme<\/strong> (a partnership that was included in the 2023 revamp) at the front of the store, behind which lie the produce and meat departments.<\/p>\nFresh in Many Facets, but Fresh Produce<\/strong><\/strong> was Lacking<\/strong><\/h2>\nIn its design the store feels fresh but familiar in a comforting way. That\u2019s a win for Amazon, considering its biggest challenge in grocery so far has been not turning customers off with too much newness in a shopping experience that is primarily focused on necessities.<\/strong> But for me, the biggest test of a grocery store depends on freshness of another kind \u2014 the produce. In that regard, Amazon also meets the challenge.<\/p>\n\n
Slightly disappointing selection in the organic fresh produce section. (Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nHowever, my other big demand of the place I give my grocery dollars is selection, and there Amazon still has some work to do. Whole sections of shelves in both the produce and meat departments were empty<\/strong>, while other sections were filled with an overwhelming amount of a singular product, seemingly to fill space. (Case in point, the \u201cOrganic\u201d section featured a total of just four<\/strong> bags of carrots alongside seven rows full<\/strong> of cranberries).<\/p>\nPerhaps this is merely a case of first-month hiccups and will be resolved as the store matures, but it\u2019s not a great look for a store trying to win customers away from the many other nearby options. In one regard, Amazon appears to have made significant strides \u2014 its selection of national brands<\/strong>; I found all the name-brand staples I need every week, so one point for Amazon Fresh in its move to ensure the right mix of private label and CPG staples.<\/p>\nThe rest of the store follows a fairly typical grocery format: deli, prepared foods and bakery at the back with shelf-stable items, ingredients and household goods in aisles along the center; dairy is along the back at the opposite end of the store from produce.<\/p>\n
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Competitive prices that are even better for Prime members is the overarching signage theme. (Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe store\u2019s competitive pricing was indeed touted on an almost overwhelming amount of signage through the store, and overall, prices seemed to be in line with other grocers in the area. The savings Prime members enjoy was a big focus (my Prime savings totaled $7.64<\/strong> in addition to $15<\/strong> in non-Prime promotions on a $350<\/strong> cart). But that raises a question: Given that Prime is a paid membership \u2014 unlike most grocery loyalty programs, which are free \u2014 does Amazon risk turning off an entire segment of the population not willing to pay for a membership?<\/strong> That said, 180 million<\/strong> U.S. consumers already are Prime members, so the customer base is large even if that ends up being the case.<\/p>\nPickup\/Returns Counter, Eat-in Caf\u00e9 Highlight Larger Ambitions<\/strong><\/h2>\nTwo notable additions to the standard grocery store design stand out: A large in-store counter and separate entrance for Amazon.com order pickup and returns<\/strong>; and a large eat-in caf\u00e9 area<\/strong> at the front.<\/p>\n\n
(Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe first makes perfect sense and, as it has at other stores including Whole Foods, will likely be a great traffic driver for the store. <\/p>\n
The second was a bit puzzling. Clearly Amazon hopes to make a prepared food play to extend dwell time, along the lines of Ikea<\/strong> or Wegman\u2019s<\/strong>, but the space was abandoned when I visited. Not to mention that the deli\u2019s prepared food section offered very little to entice someone to take a break from shopping and sit down to eat. Perhaps that will also be expanded as the store becomes more established, and the Krispy Kreme might help, but at the moment, it simply felt like a restaurant in a strip mall that no one wants to visit.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\nA Streamlined Smart Cart Experience<\/strong><\/h2>\nAs one would expect from Amazon, interesting tech made an appearance throughout the store, although none of it was forced on the shopper. That subtlety is likely the result of another lesson learned \u2014 one of the biggest adjustments Amazon has made to its Fresh format was removing its cashierless Just Walk Out (JWO) technology from all stores, after early tests indicated it just wasn\u2019t working for grocery shoppers.<\/p>\n
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The Dash Cart exit lane sits between self-checkout and manned checkout lanes. (Photo: Retail TouchPoints)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nInstead, the company is leaning into its Dash Carts, and the smart cart experience at Amazon Fresh is a level above that of other stores. <\/strong>While I didn\u2019t use a Dash Cart during my trip, I have used smart carts at other grocers, and here\u2019s the big difference \u2014 if you use a Dash Cart at Amazon Fresh, when you\u2019re done with your shopping you literally just walk out of the store. <\/p>\nThat\u2019s because smart carts from third parties that are deployed at other grocers (like the one I tried at ShopRite), aren\u2019t linked to the POS, so there\u2019s still a checkout moment (albeit fast). However, with Dash Cart you sign in with your Amazon Prime account at the beginning, and as long as you\u2019re okay using the card Amazon already has on file, you just have to exit the store through a designated area to indicate that you\u2019re done shopping and ready to be charged. A very nice streamlining of the experience, I have to say.<\/p>\n
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