This is an excerpt from a story delivered exclusively to Business Insider Intelligence E-Commerce Briefing subscribers. To receive the full story plus other insights each morning, click here.
Amazon intends to open dozens of grocery stores in many major US cities separate from the Whole Foods brand, sources told The Wall Street Journal.
Business Insider Intelligence
The company plans to open its first location in Los Angeles, potentially before the end of this year, and it’s signed leases for two more locations that would open in early 2020, though signing leases doesn’t mean Amazon will definitely open these stores.
The e-commerce titan is also considering acquiring regional grocery chains that have approximately 12 stores, which would speed up its expansion, and it’s in additional talks to open stores in shopping centers in five different US cities. It’s currently unclear if the new chain will include Amazon branding.
The new chain gives Amazon the chance to offer lower-price products than Whole Foods and create stores with online grocery in mind. These new stores can offer cheaper and less upscale products than what’s typically seen at Whole Foods, allowing Amazon to avoid cannibalizing Whole Foods’ sales, dodge hurting the grocer’s reputation by changing its selection, and cater to different consumers.
Additionally, Amazon can build and format these new stores with online grocery orders, both pickup and delivery, in mind so it can set them up to succeed in the online grocery industry, which it’s long been a major player in. Business Insider Intelligence will have further coverage of this news later today.
Interested in getting the full story? Here are two ways to get access:
1. Sign up for the E-Commerce Briefing to get it delivered to your inbox 6x a week. >> Get Started
2. Subscribe to a Premium pass to Business Insider Intelligence and gain immediate access to the E-Commerce Briefing, plus more than 250 other expertly researched reports. As an added bonus, you’ll also gain access to all future reports and daily newsletters to ensure you stay ahead of the curve and benefit personally and professionally. >> Learn More Now
See Also:
- Read the letter New York leaders sent to Jeff Bezos begging Amazon to come back
- UPS has a new service for online sellers that can store, pack, and ship items like Amazon — but it’s better in 2 ways
- JD.com nearly brought in $20 billion in Q4 — but it still faces struggles
Source: Business Insider – dkeyes@businessinsider.com (Daniel Keyes)