Tony Hoggett sings praises of new Amazon Fresh checkout-free stores in Croydon and Monument
Tony Hoggett, SVP Worldwide Physical Stores & Speciality Fulfilment at Amazon, has taken to social media to plug two new Just Walk Out technology powered Amazon Fresh UK stores.
These are located in Croydon and Monument.
In a LinkedIn post, Hoggett, who previously worked at Tesco, said: “Excited for our team in the UK who opened not one, but two brand new Amazon Fresh stores this week.”
“It’s great that London customers in Croydon and Monument now have access to our great prices, selection and, of course, no queues.”
DALSTON
On Saturday, 21st January, RTIH exclusively reported that Amazon Fresh had closed its Dalston, London location, less than 18 months after opening it in a blaze of autonomous retail glory.
A spokesperson told us: “Just like other retailers, we regularly review our business and from time to time adjust to ensure we are able to best serve our customers.”
“We remain committed to Amazon Fresh UK physical stores and, in fact, are excited to confirm we will soon open two new Amazon Fresh stores in the Greater London area.”
Brittain Ladd, a supply chain and retail technology consultant and former Amazon executive, commented: “Retailers often close stores due to a lack of sales and other reasons only to open stores in a different location. Amazon closing one Amazon Fresh store and announcing they’re opening additional ones isn’t a surprise.”
He added: “What it hasn’t been able to do is take market share or establish a large customer base via its Amazon Fresh stores. Unless this can be achieved, it will have to accept running stores with few customers or they’ll have to shut down the locations.”
“Amazon has spent years trying to find a format that resonates with consumers. They’re still looking. I remain convinced that acquiring the Ocado Group and expanding Ocado Zoom is the best strategy for Amazon.”
SLOWING DOWN
Amazon UK opened Its first UK checkout-free store in March 2021, in Ealing, west London.
It then quickly opened another 18, predominantly in the capital, and said lots more were in the pipeline.
Yet in August of last year, we reported that Amazon had slammed on the brakes, due to sales falling short of expectations and fit out costs being multiple times higher than with a standard location.
According to The Sunday Times, the US giant was understood to have walked away from talks on dozens of sites, and stopped its search for more locations.
In a LinkedIn post, Martin Heubel, an Amazon strategy consultant, said: “Not a major surprise amid the current economic climate. It’s expensive to get into retail and even more expensive to remain.”
“With inflation at all time highs, customers are prioritising to save money. Even the most advanced self-checkout technology won’t revert this trend in the short-term. It seems, Amazon has come to realise this, too.”
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