Amazon Fresh is a subsidiary of the American

e-commerce E-commerce (electronic commerce) refers to commercial activities including the electronic buying or selling products and services which are conducted on online platforms or over the Internet. E-commerce draws on technologies such as mobile co ...

company

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon (company), an American multinational technology company * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek myth ...

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, Washington. It is a grocery retailer with physical stores in some U.S. cities, as well as in London and delivery services in the United States and various international locations. Amazon Fresh was initially a delivery service. In 2020 the concept changed to a chain of physical, cashier-less supermarkets.

Delivery service

First Amazon Fresh No-Checkout Store in Europe

Amazon Fresh started in 2007 as an invite-only grocery delivery service in Washington. It rolled out its services gradually, targeting specific parts of various metropolitan areas and partnering with local speciality stores for delivery of local items. In March 2017, Amazon announced the beta launch of AmazonFresh Pickup, a drive-in grocery store for Amazon Prime subscribers where users shop online, reserve times to pick up the groceries, and have them loaded into their cars at the store. In the United Kingdom, Amazon signed a deal with the British supermarket chain

Morrisons Wm Morrison Supermarkets Limited, trading as Morrisons, is the List of supermarket chains in the United Kingdom, fifth largest supermarket chain in the United Kingdom. As of 2021, the company had 497 supermarkets across England, Wales and Sco ...

to provide supplies for Amazon Prime Pantry and PrimeFresh. In Germany, the product range is 85,000 product lines. By comparison, the

REWE Rewe (stylized as REWE; ) is a supermarket chain in Germany and the main brand of Rewe Group headquartered in Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of ...

supermarket chain's home delivery service has 9,000 product lines. On November 2, 2017, Amazon announced it was discontinuing its Fresh service to some smaller towns and cities in California, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, and Pennsylvania.

Physical, cashier-less supermarkets

In 2020, Amazon announced that they would use the name "Amazon Fresh" for their new chain of physical grocery stores in the

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and

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areas. The stores featured cashier-less (UK: till-less) shopping, with surveillance cameras and other technology ensuring that shoppers' purchases were automatically registered without needing to be individually scanned at a checkout counter. More than half use the "Just Walk Out" technology, while others use Dash Carts. Dash Carts are shopping carts with a

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barcode scanner A barcode reader or barcode scanner is an optical scanner that can read printed barcodes and send the data they contain to computer. Like a flatbed scanner, it consists of a light source, a lens, and a light sensor for translating optical impulses ...

, cameras, and various sensors to count items placed and removed from the cart, allowing customers to skip conventional checkouts. The customer scans a QR code from their Amazon app to link their Amazon account so their purchase can be billed through the payment method linked in their Amazon account. The cart also has a weight sensor to weigh produce priced by weight. Some Amazon Fresh stores use "grab and go" or "Just Walk Out" technology similar to that in Amazon Go stores, which tracks what customers take and place back. It allows customers to skip conventional checkouts while also eliminating the need to use Dash Carts. While presented to customers as an automated process, it relied on an India-based team of over 1,000 human reviewers to verify checkout accuracy. Currently, there are no Amazon Fresh stores that use both "grab and go" and Dash Carts. In April 2024, Amazon confirmed that the Just Walk Out technology would be phased out in favor of using Dash Carts at all U.S. Amazon Fresh locations. Amazon still plans to sell the Just Walk Out technology to other businesses, primarily smaller format stores. Also in April 2024, Amazon began offering Dash Carts to other supermarkets, beginning with a small number of Price Chopper and McKeever's Market locations located in Kansas and Missouri. The objective was to turn the technology into a service business. It follows Amazon selling the Just Walk Out technology to other businesses in March 2020. Due to criticism regarding Amazon Go stores not accepting cash, some Amazon Fresh stores also have checkout lanes for customers who want to pay with cash or do not have an Amazon account.

Controversy

A study of shoppers found that while customers appreciated not having to wait in line, they felt "a sense of embarrassment and doubt due to tracking and the over-control generated" by the very visible surveillance cameras through the Amazon Fresh stores. The surveillance has been described as giving a " Big Brother" feel that challenges customers' trust. This has been proposed as a possible reason for why customers tend to go to other nearby stores instead of Amazon Fresh. In 2021 a class-action lawsuit was filed against Amazon in New York for not alerting customers that it was monitoring their body shapes and palm prints. Employees have also complained about excessive surveillance of workers in Amazon Fresh warehouses.

Locations

The first Amazon Fresh grocery store opened to the public on September 17, 2020, in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. By July 2022 Amazon Fresh had 38 locations in the states of

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. It borders on Lake Michigan to its northeast, the Mississippi River to its west, and the Wabash River, Wabash and Ohio River, Ohio rivers to its ...

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania, officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a U.S. state, state spanning the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern United States, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes region, Great Lakes regions o ...

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, Washington,

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, and

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York New York may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a U.S. state, state located in both the Mid-Atlantic States, Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern United States, Northeastern regions of the United States. Located at the geographic hub of the urban area, heavily urbanized Northeas ...

. On March 4, 2021, the first Amazon Fresh store in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

was opened, in the

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shopping mall in

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, West

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

, and by June 2022, Amazon Fresh had 17 locations in London, UK. On November 17, 2022, it was reported that the development of all upcoming Amazon Fresh grocery stores had been indefinitely paused “pending evaluation of the operation.” In February 2023 two Amazon Fresh storefronts that had not yet opened in Brookfield and Westport Connecticut were abandoned and sold to Big Y Supermarket. In July 2023 three London locations were closed, including the first to be opened. The company continued to state that it would continue to grow despite the closures and underwhelming sales figures. Since 2023, more Amazon Fresh locations have begun to open.

Product lines

Amazon Fresh sells grocery items and a subset of items from the main Amazon.com storefront. Items ordered through Amazon Fresh are available for home delivery on the same day or the next day, depending on the time of the order and the availability of delivery slots. Amazon Fresh operates independently of

Whole Foods Market Whole Foods Market, Inc. (colloquially referred to as simply Whole Foods) is an American multinational supermarket chain store, chain headquartered in Austin, Texas, which sells products free from Hydrogenated fat, hydrogenated fats and artificia ...

, which is also owned by Amazon. They have separate facilities and separate inventories that they sell. Market research from Amazon shows that customers at Amazon Fresh tend to have lower incomes and are more likely to be Hispanic or particularly Asian than customers of Whole Foods.''Amazon Fresh vs. Whole Foods vs. All of Grocery,'' Jennifer Strailey, Winsight Grocery Business, May 3, 2021. https://www.winsightgrocerybusiness.com/retailers/amazon-fresh-vs-whole-foods-vs-all-grocery Amazon Fresh store

References

External links

* (US) {{Supermarkets of the United States Amazon (company) Online grocers American companies established in 2007 Retail companies established in 2007 Transport companies established in 2007 Internet properties established in 2007 Companies based in Seattle Supermarkets of the United States