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Amazon’s convenience store of the future makes me nervous
Half a decade in the making, and after a year of intensive testing, Amazon's cashier-free convenience store is opening to the public. Amazon Go, located at the base of the company's Seattle HQ, is the first of its kind: a convenience store with no checkouts, no lines and no stress. Simply walk in, select your purchases and walk out -- a seamless, frictionless, fast way to grab a sandwich for lunch. At least that's the story Amazon wants you to know.
Amazon's automated convenience stores edge closer to public debut
Last year, Amazon opened its first convenience store embedded with its "just walk out technology." Located in Seattle, the Amazon Go store, which lets shoppers walk in, load up on the items they want and walk out without having to pay for the items in a checkout line, has been testing its technology with Amazon employees. Now, as Bloomberg reports, the company has worked through some of the hangups with the technology and is making moves towards opening its store and others to the public.
Amazon is opening pop-up stores in Whole Foods for the holidays
This holiday season, you could step into a Whole Foods for some organic bananas and step out with a couple of Echo speakers instead. Amazon is already selling "farm fresh" Kindles, Echos, Fire TVs and tablets in 100 Whole Foods locations, but it's taking things a step further for holidays this year. It's opening pop-up shops in five Whole Foods stores across the US, which will do more than just peddle the e-retail giant's devices.
Amazon scales back its Fresh delivery service in smaller cities
We've covered again and again how Amazon is interested in slowly establishing itself in every part of our lives, including in the food we buy and how we eat. The online retailer purchased organic food chain Whole Foods earlier this year, but Amazon has also been expanding its Amazon Fresh service, which provides same-day and next-day grocery delivery for Prime members. Users of the service pay an additional $15 per month, on top of the yearly Prime fee. But in a surprise move, according to Recode, it looks like Amazon is actually shutting down its Fresh delivery services in certain areas later this month.
Whole Foods is already hawking Amazon Echo speakers
Amazon isn't wasting any time now that its Whole Foods acquisition has gone through. Sure enough, visitors to Whole Foods stores have noticed that the grocery stores are already pitching discounted Echo speakers ($100 for the regular model, and $45 for the Dot) at very prominent stands. They're "farm fresh," according to the displays -- as if you'd find them growing in a field next to the carrots. It's a pretty shameless plug, although one you could have seen coming. Amazon craves retail space, and Whole Foods' abundance of stores (470 across North America and the UK) gives it plenty of opportunities to hawk its hardware.
Amazon's acquistion of Whole Foods will make some groceries cheaper
Amazon announced today that its acquisition of Whole Foods will close on Monday August 28th and the finalized deal will come with a few perks to both the grocery chain's and Amazon's customers.
FTC gives Amazon's Whole Foods acquisition the go-ahead
Amazon just got much closer to completing its purchase of Whole Foods. The Federal Trade Commission has decided against further pursuing an investigation into the $13.7 billion deal, arguing that there's no evidence the mega-merger "substantially lessened" the competitive landscape. The FTC won't rule out the possibility of an investigation if Amazon exhibits shady behavior down the line, but the internet retailer is otherwise in the clear.
Amazon's Meal Kits are already available for some customers
Earlier this week, reports surfaced that Amazon had registered a trademark for a meal kit service with the slogan "We do the prep. You be the chef." And apparently those kits are already available to some AmazonFresh customers, one of whom told GeekWire that he began noticing them in his shopping searches a week or two ago.
Amazon’s ready to own the future of grocery shopping
"When I look at the menu," Jeff Bezos allegedly said, "you're the thing I don't understand, the thing I've never had." He was explaining to Matt Rutledge, founder of Woot, why Amazon had bought his online anti-retailer for $110 million. Bezos justified the purchase of the site the same way he'd ordered octopus for breakfast in a famous meeting, as described by D Magazine. Rutledge understood the point: If Amazon doesn't understand something, it will use its financial clout to buy it and dissect it in search of its je ne sais quoi.
Amazon is buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion
In a surprising turn of events, Amazon and Whole Foods Market announced this morning that they are merging; Amazon will acquire the high-end organic food company for approximately $13.7 billion cash. The deal is expected to close during the second half of this year. Whole Foods is retaining its CEO, cofounder John Mackey, and they will continue to operate their stores independently. The company's headquarters will remain in Austin, Texas.
The 'Beyond Burger' probably won't make you give up beef
Meat alternatives are becoming a holy grail for food producers -- not just to tap the growing vegetarian and vegan market, but also because animal farming is resource intensive. Even so, people who would prefer something that hews close to the taste, texture and smell of meat don't have a lot of options. The Impossible Burger, which uses plant proteins to create a "meaty" patty, remains exclusive to only four restaurants in New York and California. However, Beyond Meat is taking its own plant-based protein straight to your home, with a burger you can buy in supermarkets.
Pizza Hut and Whole Foods debut social media chatbots
If you can't be bothered chatting with Facebook's news and weather bots, maybe a pizza bot can change your mind. Pizza Hut is launching a Facebook and a Twitter chatbot this fall that can take your order and show you current deals. The Facebook bot even comes with something extra: it can connect your FB with your Pizza Hut account, so it can list your past orders. You know, in case somebody asks you to prove that you've never had Hawaiian before. But what if you eat healthy and don't like pizza? Well then, you'll probably enjoy chatting with Whole Foods' Facebook bot instead.
Google will test fresh food deliveries in two US cities this year
Google's Express delivery service has already been delivering food for a while, but it's about to expand those efforts in a big, big way. The internet giant tells Bloomberg that it will start testing deliveries of fresh food and groceries in both San Francisco and another, unnamed US city sometime later this year. Yes, you may well get fruits and veggies (technically sourced from places like Costco and Whole Foods) through your web search provider. This isn't just a kindness, though. Fresh food is potentially cheaper, since Google won't have to deal with refrigeration and other logistics involved with frozen goods. Also, this gives it a better shot at competing with Amazon Fresh -- it can offer both lower delivery rates and more of the produce you want.
Whole Foods experimenting with Kinect-powered shopping carts that are smarter than you (video)
Here's a little secret Whole Foods doesn't like to advertise: they want, nay, demand, that a rather large percentage of residents near its highfalutin grocery stores have a college degree. Apparently you've gotta be smart to navigate its aisles crowded with over-priced organic wares and exotic condiments. Perhaps, though, the company has realized the error of its ways and wants to move in to new markets. That doesn't mean it trusts you and your high school diploma to decipher all those labels with difficult to pronounce words on them. A new experimental shopping cart is being tested by the market that puts a tablet and a Kinect in the driver's seat -- literally. Because you can't be expected to multi-task, the cart drives itself, monitors your shopping list and can even warn you if you grab the wrong item, thus protecting you from your own inability to avoid aggravating your peanut allergy. Check it out in action after the break.
