Retail Watchers

They seem to be spending a lot on social media ads lately claiming to have "inflation busting prices" but usually don't feature a product or price. These are all filled with comments complaining about the increase in order minimum for free delivery to $150+. Lots of folks saying not only can they get free delivery for less on a smaller order at a competitor, but also they are absolutely pissed that they are being asked to pay for any delivery fee or having any minimum at all since they are paying for Prime. Since a Prime membership is $139 now they have a valid point - they're paying a lot of money already so they should not have to buy over $150 in groceries to avoid a delivery fee. I expect the delivery business will tank immediately and that should be the end of these stores. They'll probably wait till end of the next quarter and if the numbers add up they will shut them down, if not then as soon as the next quarter begins. They can claim they tried to make changes to marketing for more traffic, and delivery pricing to improve profitability but nothing worked. They get to say they did their due diligence and the only way forward was to liquidate them. I can't imagine this going on much longer.

Their next wild move I predict will be rebranding them to a combined Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods format. Perimeter will go full Whole Foods. Throw in more Whole Foods stuff in center store. Keep the Coke and junk for the "Amazon Fresh" side. It still won't work and will end up diluting Whole Foods.

I am really surprised they haven't done anything about the strange product mix, strange pricing, and ongoing inability to keep the shelves stocked. I don't think fixing these things would save them but it could give them a fighting chance...

storewanderer wrote: ↑March 21st, 2023, 12:30 am Their next wild move I predict will be rebranding them to a combined Amazon Fresh/Whole Foods format. Perimeter will go full Whole Foods. Throw in more Whole Foods stuff in center store. Keep the Coke and junk for the "Amazon Fresh" side. It still won't work and will end up diluting Whole Foods.

I am really surprised they haven't done anything about the strange product mix, strange pricing, and ongoing inability to keep the shelves stocked. I don't think fixing these things would save them but it could give them a fighting chance...

I've heard their workers tell customers that they don't have enough buying power or leverage to stay in stock as vendors prioritize the big chains. Sounds more like the vendors don't want Amazon to succeed as they would likely demand better margins and put pressure on pricing. There could be some truth to it, but it could also be Amazon throwing their weight around and acting like Walmart but the vendors don't want anything to do with it. Whatever the truth is, clearly there are bad relationships that are preventing this chain from ever becoming viable.

I am willing to bet the majority of their sales volume was still coming through home deliveries. Those staging areas were usually overflowing even though the store itself is devoid of customers. But the $150 minimum even with their Prime membership is pushing it. The social media pushback is extreme with some calling it Amazon's New Coke initiative. If the majority of the sales are deliveries then they're going to hit a crisis point quick outside of the more upscale areas where higher income customers may not care about a limit. But if that means any more of the stores become unviable that could push them to the point where the entire operation is now so small it becomes impossible to ever reach profitability. I think with all the bad news about Amazon lately, the layoffs that keep coming, they might as well get all the bad news out of the way by closing these loser stores down and get refocused on their core business so they're ready to compete again by peak season.

It was reported locally on TV that more "Amazon" layoffs are coming; it really feels a little bit like what ClownLoach laid out earlier may be starting to happen:

https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/compan ... iminations

ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 20th, 2023, 9:29 pm They seem to be spending a lot on social media ads lately claiming to have "inflation busting prices" but usually don't feature a product or price.

I've seen a couple call-outs in their circulars and some cardboard pylon advertisements outside my local Fresh store...but the 'deals' I've seen aren't anything earth-shattering (the one I remember specifically was 77 cent avocados..which is maybe 10-20 cents lower than some places, but about the same as Sprouts and Aldi, no not exactly anything earth shattering).

mbz321 wrote: ↑March 22nd, 2023, 6:30 pm

ClownLoach wrote: ↑March 20th, 2023, 9:29 pm They seem to be spending a lot on social media ads lately claiming to have "inflation busting prices" but usually don't feature a product or price.

I've seen a couple call-outs in their circulars and some cardboard pylon advertisements outside my local Fresh store...but the 'deals' I've seen aren't anything earth-shattering (the one I remember specifically was 77 cent avocados..which is maybe 10-20 cents lower than some places, but about the same as Sprouts and Aldi, no not exactly anything earth shattering).

This depends on the avocado. If it is the "larger" 4225 Avocado, 77 cents is a great deal. Whole Foods sells the "larger" 4225 Avocado so it may be those; they had them on sale for $1 a couple weeks ago at Whole Foods. If it is the smaller 4046 Avocado then .77 is no deal at all (Smiths had those .50 last week and regular is only .79).

Some reporting on the New Jersey Amazon Fresh stores. Not sure there's any new information exactly here, but just the same situation across the country: https://www.northjersey.com/story/news/ ... 037289007/

Wasn't there one somewhere in SoCal that appeared be getting finished and prepared for opening recently? I wonder if it has opened?

Palm Desert (111 just west of 74) is fully signed, at least. Havent looked at interior build yet.

Romr123 wrote: ↑March 26th, 2023, 7:50 am Palm Desert (111 just west of 74) is fully signed, at least. Havent looked at interior build yet.

Palm Desert?

I believe it should have been in Cathedral City.

Those F&E buffoons inside Amazon doing their thing...................