Amazon Fresh is just the next logical evolution of grocery shopping in the United States. And what I mean by that is for the past 50 years or so, consumers have become increasingly removed from the production (much less the delivery and supply chain) cycle of how food originates from farms and ultimately winds up in grocery store aisles. And when you're ready to pay for your items, there are fewer lanes staffed by people, and more self check-out kiosks for you to bag and pay for your stuff.
Once upon a time when America was primarily an agrarian society and a larger percentage of the populace was involved with food production, it was more common to have small local stores where it was likely folks would know the farmer, butcher, or fishmonger who brought their goods to market. And of course, it's nice to wax nostalgic about an idyllic past, but Amazon Fresh represents almost the extreme of a bygone era.
Walking into this Amazon Fresh store a few miles from the Franconia Metro station, the place feels almost sterile. Even though there is a cadre of Amazon employees scurrying about their black shirts adorned with the "Amazon Fresh" logo, no one seems particularly happy to be there (very few smiles observed on employees faces), nor were any of the employees eager to engage in any interaction; at least that my was my experience.
I was almost run over a few times by this army of Amazon Fresh employees rushing about in the store, since they are focused on quickly assembling orders for pick-up for those time-starved amongst us who rather have other people shop for them. I can only imagine the pressure these workers must face since the task of picking the perfectly ripe avocado, or the best piece of steak, or the freshest loaf of bread has been outsourced via a few clicks on an app.
The whole shopping "experience" is designed for convenience and to minimize as much human contact as possible. You can opt for one of the orange colored "traditional" shopping carts and when you're ready, have your items checked out by an ACTUAL LIVE HUMAN - OR - you can use of the high-tech green colored carts which have a variety of sensors which "should" track and keep a running total of items as you place and remove them from your cart.
I say "should" keep track, because after logging into the cart using a QR code from my Amazon Mobile app, I perused the aisles of the store and on a few occasions, the sensors kept detected multiple items (such as multiple bags of chips or incorrect amount of produce). The process to modify the amounts on the touch screen on the cart wasn't as intuitive as it should've been and I had to hunt down employees for assistance. This was made all the more frustrating since I spoke with two employees who then had to radio a supervisor for assistance. Not necessarily the seamless easy shopping experience that this place is aiming for.
The entire experience at Amazon Fresh wasn't terrible. I had a few Amazon items I needed to return, so instead of driving to the Whole Foods in Springfield, this is a more convenient location. I think it's a bit odd that there is a small area where you can also peruse the latest Kindle and Amazon Fire tablets as well as purchase books if desired, but vertical business integration, right?
And because Amazon owns Whole Foods, I did find a few organic items (produce and 365 label items) that were a decent price. But in general, I found most of the items to be as expensive if not more than typical grocery stores like the GIANT (rip-off) and (WAGE)Wegmans. I mean, if I'm doing most of the "work" by using one of these fancy high-tech carts, and bagging my own stuff so as to minimize the need for staff by paying through my Amazon app, shouldn't the groceries be cheaper???
For me, I'll stick with shopping at my Asian grocery stores such as H-Mart, 99 Ranch, or Lotte. Perhaps I'm old skool, but I actually like selecting my own produce and perusing the aisles to see what kind of interesting stuff I can find. read more