Amazon confirms plans for brick-&-mortar store under new grocery brand

Amazon Inc. is planning to launch a new supermarket brand which is different from the Whole Foods Market chain the company acquired two years ago. It is a clue of the retail giant's effort to put its hand on the grocery market beyond high-end organic food. The company has posted four job listings for the 'Amazon First Grocery Store' in the Woodland Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. The spokesperson of the company confirmed the listings and said the stores would be opened in 2020. The brand will be different from Whole Foods and will feature a conventional checkout line, unlike the cashier-less Amazon Go convenience stores, as per the spokesperson. Amazon's plan for the stores was reported earlier by a media agency.

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Amazon acquired Whole Foods in a $13.7 billion deal

The e-commerce firm acquired Whole Foods in a $13.7 billion deal two years ago but will have to compete in the $900 billion U.S. grocery industry. The Whole Foods brand clashes with Amazon’s desire to give customers whatever they want. Walmart Inc. which is Amazon's primary rival captures about 25 percent of all U.S. grocery spending and sells items such as Pepsi and Cheetos that buyers can't find at Whole Foods. The grocery research analysts have examined that Amazon might branch out with a new store where such products would be available.

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Amazon’s sales from physical stores declined by 1.3% 

Online purchasers prefer in-store pickup options to home delivery by nearly a 2 to 1 margin and Amazon needs more stores to meet the growing demand. Amazon’s sales from physical stores declined 1.3% from a year earlier to $4.19 billion in the third quarter. Amazon concluded that the total doesn’t include online sales from Whole Foods, but the Seattle-based company doesn’t break out that figure. Woodland Hills is an upscale suburban neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley.

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(With Agency inputs)