Whole Foods Market concept store features Fulfil powered automated micro-fulfillment centre
Whole Foods Market’s new concept store in Plymouth Meeting, PA, USA combines its natural and organic products with Amazon’s name brand groceries and household essentials, with the aim of allowing customers to complete their entire shopping list in one location.
The store features a 10,000-square foot automated micro-fulfillment centre that houses over 12,000 unique items, enabling customers to order additional products via QR codes while shopping in-store or through online delivery and pickup options.
Amazon says that it plans to refine and expand the offering to additional stores over time.
"We've always taken pride in offering a wide selection of natural and organic products, but we understand our customers appreciate the convenience of one stop shopping," says Jason Buechel, Vice President of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores and CEO at Whole Foods Market.
"We're making grocery shopping more convenient for customers by thoughtfully blending our grocery offerings and leveraging new fulfillment capabilities in creative ways. This new concept store experience allows customers to get everything on their shopping list in one convenient stop or one online order, combining quality with convenience while still delivering the exceptional shopping experience customers expect."
Shoppers at the Plymouth Meeting location will find QR codes throughout the store. Once scanned with their smartphone camera, the QR code will open up their Amazon app and take them to a custom mobile storefront.
From there, they will have access to thousands of additional products available beyond the store shelves. When ready, customers will receive a text notification to collect their Amazon items at the Amazon Pickup & Returns Counter after finishing up their Whole Foods Market shopping.
The micro-fulfillment centre taps technology from Fulfil. The system uses autonomous ShopBots to sort, retrieve, and stage products across all temperature zones - keeping fulfillment activities behind the scenes to minimise disruption to the in-store experience.
It manages both Whole Foods Market inventory and the extended Amazon selection from a single automated facility. Orders are prepared within minutes before handoff to an employee who then finalises it for customer delivery or pickup.
“Somewhat over-engineered and just a bit too complex and clever”
Neil Saunders, Managing Director and Retail Analyst at GlobalData Retail, says: “Very few Whole Foods shoppers get all their grocery and household needs from the chain. Many use Whole Foods as a top-up or treating destination and then go on to buy common household brands from other retailers like Target, Walmart, and Kroger. Amazon wants to capture more of this spending for itself and to improve convenience for its shoppers.”
He adds: “While this provides the best of both worlds, I do wonder whether the solution is somewhat over-engineered and just a bit too complex and clever. Even so, this is a reasonable start point for experimenting on making Whole Foods more relevant and enlarging its share of wallet.”
The other important aspect, he notes, is that the fulfillment centre will also support the online offer of both Whole Foods and Amazon. The automated fulfillment is an important unlock in efficiency and, linked with Amazon's superior distribution, provides a platform for better growth in fresh food online, Saunders argues.
“The bottom line is that all of this shows Amazon has serious ambitions in grocery but is still looking for an optimal model to realise these,” he concludes.
Brittain Ladd, a supply chain consultant and former Amazon executive, comments: “It costs between $7 million to $11 million to install an automated micro-fulfillment centre in a Whole Foods store. Amazon uses a combination of their own hardware in a partnership with the company Fulfil.”
“It’s a charade. While claiming they never sell products with unnatural ingredients, Whole Foods is selling Oreos, Tide and other CPG products out of a back room. It’s similar to when restaurants claimed during Prohibition that they didn’t have any alcohol yet a few knocks on a door in the back room would result in a bottle of alcohol being available for sale.”
2025 RTIH INNOVATION AWARDS
Automation was a key focus area at the 2025 RTIH Innovation Awards.
We received a record number of entries and many fantastic examples of the continued resilience and dynamism of the retail space during hugely challenging times.
For a full rundown of all of the shortlisted entries, click here.
Our 2025 hall of fame entrants were revealed during a sold out event which took place at The HAC in Central London on 16th October and consisted of a drinks reception, three course meal, and awards ceremony presided over by award winning comedian, actress and writer Tiff Stevenson.
In his welcome speech, Scott Thompson, Founder and Editor, RTIH, said: “This is the awards’ fifth year as a physical event. We started off with just 30 people at the South Place Hotel not far from here, then moved to London Bridge Hotel, then The Barbican, and last year RIBA’s HQ in the West End.”
“But I’m conscious of the fact that, to quote the legend that is Taylor Swift, You’re only as hot as your last hit, baby. So, this year we’ve moved to our biggest venue yet, and also pulled in our largest number of entries to date and broken attendance records.”
He added: “This year’s submissions have without doubt been our best yet. To quote one of the judges: The examples of innovative developments across both traditional and digital retail spaces were truly remarkable.”
Congratulations to our winners, and a big thank you to our sponsors, judging panel, the legend that is Tiff Stevenson, and all those who attended our 2025 gathering.
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