Dive Brief:
- Amazon is closing an unspecified number of grocery partner storefronts on Amazon.com, the company confirmed with Grocery Dive on Tuesday.
- The company said transitioning away from individual storefronts will simplify the e-commerce shopping experience and reduce friction. Amazon added it will guide shoppers to the best available grocery options offered on its marketplace as individual storefronts close.
- While Amazon is moving away from serving as a third-party partner for grocers, it is ramping up its own online grocery operations, including same-day perishables delivery.
Dive Insight:
Amazon has been busy over the past year reshaping and growing its grocery business, from unifying corporate operations to diversifying e-commerce offerings to shedding brick-and-mortar stores.
Now, Amazon is turning its attention to its grocery partnership program, through which it serves as a third-party e-commerce partner for several food retailers, which have included Winn-Dixie, Metropolitan Markets and Weis Markets in the U.S., along with grocers in Europe like Morrisons.
Separate retailer storefronts for each grocery partner require Amazon grocery customers to navigate varying fees, delivery windows and checkout experiences, Amazon noted.
“We’re always evaluating how we can best serve our grocery customers. In response to customer feedback, we’re simplifying the shopping experience and evolving how we work with our grocery partners across several countries by transitioning from individual grocery partner storefronts to other collaboration opportunities,” an Amazon spokesperson wrote to Grocery Dive.
Amazon said it will alert shoppers in advance of any changes to their shopping experience and direct them to other means of grocery shopping on Amazon. The company did not specify which of its grocery partners this change will impact.
Amazon confirmed a limited number of jobs are impacted across the company due to this transition. The company is supporting affected employees, including helping them find new internal roles.
Amazon is working with its grocery partners, both in the U.S. and internationally, to establish other services, including retailers acting as a host for Amazon Lockers and return points in physical stores, co-locating Amazon operations with their physical stores or warehouses, and using AWS cloud infrastructure and services to power their e-commerce, supply chain and data analytics operations.
The e-tailer offers same-day fresh grocery delivery to more than 2,300 U.S. cities and towns as well as parts of Tokyo and London. Amazon also plans to expand into more regions across Japan and the U.K., plus enter more countries in the coming months, the company confirmed.
