Amazon Restructures Its Grocery, Convenience Teams
As it works to strengthen its position in grocery and convenience, Amazon is restructuring its Worldwide Grocery Stores unit to bring its Amazon Fresh and Amazon Go corporate teams together.
“We regularly review our team structures to ensure we’re best set up to serve customers. Following a recent review, we’ve identified a very small number of roles in the Worldwide Grocery Stores org that are no longer required,” said an Amazon spokesperson. “We’ve already notified employees whose roles are impacted, and we’re committed to supporting them through their transition.”
Amazon is working with affected employees to identify new opportunities within the company, and also offering severance and access to career transition services to those associates who choose not to stay with the company. Impacted U.S. employees will receive pay and benefits for at least the next 60 days, as well as access to transitional health benefits.
Despite the consolidation, Amazon is continuing to invest in growing its grocery business, including its Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market and Amazon Go banners. According to the company, physical retail remains an important part of its strategy.
For its part, Whole Foods is making a big move across the pond with the March 25 opening of its first new location in London in a decade as part of a greater expansion in the United Kingdom.
“Whole Foods Market has roots deeply planted in the U.K., and we are thrilled to be bringing more natural and organic food to this market with the opening of our new King’s Road store this March,” said Jason Buechel, newly minted VP of Amazon’s Worldwide Grocery Stores and CEO of Whole Foods. “Continuing our expansion outside of the U.S. enables us to extend our reach to more customers while advancing our higher purpose to nourish people and the planet.”
Seattle-based Amazon is No. 2 on The PG 100, Progressive Grocer’s 2024 list of the top food and consumables retailers in North America. Both Whole Foods and Amazon were named among PG’s Retailers of the Century.
