SEATTLE — Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods will be a game changer in the grocery market as the company may revolutionize almost every aspect of the operation. Other groceries stores may have no choice but to keep up with Amazon’s technology innovation.
Whole Foods currently has three seafood processing plants, a coffee roasting plant, 11 regional distribution centers, three regional commissary kitchens and four bakehouses, all of which supply products to the stores. Industry experts told Bloomberg that these are the places where Amazon could focus.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon may consider building huge warehouse with the size up to 1 million square feet to serve Whole Foods and its own grocery initiatives such as Amazon Fresh and Prime Pantry.
The warehouses may be automated by utilizing robots in order to reduce labor costs. In stores, robots may also used to navigate aisles to check inventory. In the long run, Amazon may consider eliminating cashiers and use auto checkouts instead, Bloomberg reported. Whole Foods locations may be used as distribution centers for Amazon’s own grocery delivery service.
By streamlining distribution and reducing labor costs could bring down the prices at Whole Foods, which would then pose a major threat to other regular grocery stores. This may force them to automate and eventually lead to layoffs.
Amazon operates AmazonGo, a fully automated concept grocery store in Seattle. It can automatically detect when products are taken from the shelves and records selections in virtual shopping carts. Customers can make purchases without the aid of a cashier. Amazon says it has no plans to introduce that technology to Whole Foods stores.
