Amazon.com could be entering a new phase of its e-grocery business as it opens its first dark store dedicated to Whole Foods’ e-grocery fulfillment.
Amazon will be opening the location in Brooklyn, NY, according to USA Today, but will not give the general public access to the facility’s long shelves of products or large grocery coolers, nor will customers be able to pick up from the store directly. Product will be exclusively picked for delivery drivers and some bike delivery people.
While Amazon had been planning the dark store before the novel coronavirus pandemic hit, the crisis has dropped the retailer into the deep end of e-grocery fulfillment.
Being the nation’s biggest destination for online orders — grocery and otherwise — went from being Amazon’s biggest advantage to a major challenge early on in the pandemic. An unprecedented influx of orders for food and other essentials due to panic buying, uncertainty and fears about the safety of physical grocery shopping led to roadblocks for the one-time leader of order fulfillment. At one point in April, Amazon even had to waitlist new online grocery customers.
Being the nation’s biggest destination for online orders — grocery and otherwise — went from being Amazon’s biggest advantage to a major challenge early on in the pandemic. An unprecedented influx of orders for food and other essentials due to panic buying, uncertainty and fears about the safety of physical grocery shopping led to roadblocks for the one-time leader of order fulfillment. At one point in April, Amazon even had to waitlist new online grocery customers.
