Amazon Fresh Gains More Ground in SoCal
Amazon Fresh has opened its 11th grocery store in Southern California, the banner’s first in Ventura County. The approximately 35,000-square-foot Amazon Fresh, located at 742 Los Angeles Avenue, in Moorpark, Calif., gives customers the option to skip the checkout line, thanks to the company’s Just Walk Out technology.
Customers who opt for Just Walk Out shopping can enter the store in three ways: They can scan the QR code in their Amazon app, use Amazon One to scan their palm to enter, or insert a credit or debit card linked to their Amazon account. Each option will open the Just Walk Out gates. Once inside the store, customers can shop as normal. Anything they take off the shelf is automatically added to their virtual cart, and anything they put back on the shelf comes out of their virtual cart. At the end of their trip, customers shopping with the Just Walk Out experience simply scan or insert their entry method again to exit.
Amazon Fresh accepts cash, SNAP EBT, credit or debit card, or Amazon One. Customers using Just Walk Out technology can use the In-Store QR code in the Amazon app, Amazon One, or a credit or debit card linked to their Amazon account to shop.
To celebrate the Moorpark store’s grand opening, Amazon Fresh will host festivities all weekend, including giveaways, free samples and special discounts on items. Moorpark customers can also take advantage of a coupon found in their weekly circular for $15 off an order of $35 or more for shopping trips made at the store until March 6. Customers may use the paper coupon at the Just Walk Out exit or at the traditional checkout.
Amazon Fresh has a wide assortment of national brands and high-quality produce, meat and seafood, as well as a range of prepared foods made fresh in store every day — from fresh-baked bread and made-to-order pizzas to rotisserie chickens and hot sandwiches. The store offers 365 by Whole Foods Market organics, plus local brands like Pizza Port Brewing, CoolHaus Ice Cream, and Rockenwagner Bakery; regional favorites like Duke’s Mayo and Ellenos Yogurt; and Amazon exclusive brands like Aplenty, Fresh and Cursive.
Amazon currently has more than 20 Amazon Fresh stores in operation. It will continue to target Southern California for growth with five new Amazon Fresh stores planned in Mission Viejo, La Verne, Murrieta, Huntington Beach and Westlake Village.
The company is certainly primed for growth, as indicated by its fourth-quarter earnings. For the quarter ended Dec. 31, Amazon said that its net sales increased 9% to $137.4 billion, compared with $125.6 billion in the fourth quarter of 2020. Excluding the $1.3 billion unfavorable impact from year-over-year changes in foreign exchange rates throughout the quarter, net sales increased 10% compared with the fourth quarter of 2020. Net income increased to $14.3 billion in the fourth quarter, or $27.75 per diluted share, compared with $7.2 billion, or $14.09 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2020.
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on Progressive Grocer’s 2021 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, is No. 26 on PG's list.
