Amazon Goes Full Big-Box Retail | Fast Five Shorts

Amazon plans to construct a nearly 225,000 square foot retail store in Orland Park, Illinois.

225,000.

I think that number needs reiteration.

Square foot retail store that will offer both groceries and general merchandise, marking Amazon's first store on par with a Walmart super center format.

According to Grocery Dive, the proposed store will be located right next to a Costco and will offer a broad selection of low prices across fresh groceries, household essentials and general merchandise.

Plans include parking dedicated for pickup orders and multiple commercial outlets for smaller businesses.

The site plans were approved by Orland Parks Planning Commission and still need approval from the village's board.

Amazon noted that the E tail giant regularly tests new shopping experiences, calling this quote a new concept that we think customers will be excited about.

End quote.

Chris, of course, A and M, this is, this is a big deal they're going to choose.

Yeah, it is kind of a big deal.

Yeah, yeah.

They're going to choose this as the put you on the spot question, which I'm sure will not surprise you.

Oh yeah, no surprise at all.

Yeah.

A and M wants to know a new Amazon store concept announcement is not exactly rare news territory, but how does this one feel different to you given the crosshairs are squarely on Walmart?

Oh, wow.

Yeah, that is a good.

That is a good question to start us off here for this show.

I think it feels that different to me, you know?

You know, I think it's still, for the most part, I think it still definitely feels like an experiment.

And like you said when you did the headline read, I mean, it's a big experiment, literally and figuratively.

I mean, 225,000 square feet, that's enormous.

I mean, that's almost double the size of a Target, to put that in perspective for everyone out there.

So my fear is that I am.

My fear is I'm really skeptical though, that it's going to work.

There is no empirical evidence whatsoever and that that Amazon knows how to merchandise this store.

They're much, much smaller.

Previous attempts, like you think of Four Star, which I had forgotten completely about.

Even Amazon Fresh Grocery, which is, you know, also not knocking the door, blowing the doors off anyone.

They've all.

I would all say they've kind of all failed, you know, and I hate to say it too, but they've also been pretty uninspiring and also not that easy to shop when you go into them.

So it's kind of like Amazon is saying to themselves, we can't do 4,000ft, but.

And we can't really do 40,000ft with Amazon Fresh.

So, sure, why don't we try five to six times that?

Like, you know, like, what the heck?

But you know, with that said, I think, and this is something to keep in mind is the real value of any concept comes down to the overall experience design of the concept.

So you got to wait and judge it until you see it.

Which is why I was pushing Wayfair so for so many years to, to go into the bigger store.

Cause I could see how that would be a valuable expression of their brand versus all the small store experiments they did.

And they finally did that and it appears to be working.

So the big question I want to ask you and leave with the audience is, yes, it's another experiment, but will it seal the fate as Amazon's last experiment in physical retailing?

Or is it just possibly the larger piece of a puzzle that we all can't see at or even conceptualize?

So, yeah, I mean, I think, I think here, here's the caveat on this.

Like, we're still looking at planning documents.

We have no idea what is inside of the store, how that 225,000 square feet is going to be organized.

And we're not, we aren't dealing with Walmart.

We aren't dealing with Target.

We're talking about Amazon.

And so I think it's hard to make a judgment call on whether or not this is going to be the final, whether or not it's going to be successful until we really get to understand more of, like, how the store is broken out, what Amazon intends to use this for, how much is grocery, how much is essentials, all those types of things that we really don't know.

All we know is the external documents, which you and I are very familiar with from our time at store of the future.

You only have to submit so much to the city to get the approval.

So I would say, though, my first reaction when I read this was, you know, they're 3,999 stores behind.

I mean, Walmart has 4,000 of these concepts.

And number one, you have to get people to change their behaviors, which we talked about a lot on last week's show.

And so will this Amazon offering, however it ends up coming to play, you know, will it really incentivize shoppers to change their physical shopping behavior to an Amazon store when, you know, over 90% of the country lives within 10 miles of a Walmart and has established loyalty and relationships with them?

So I think, you know, that's, that's really the big question for me.

This is a massive capital investment for Amazon, so I think.

I don't think it's.

It's in a spot where we can make a true call at this point in time.

But I can understand why Amazon is exploring this and if it is their last effort, why they're going.

Going big or going home.

It sounds like.

Yeah, I don't know what else you do after this.

Like, after you try this, like, what else is there left to try?

I forgot, as you were talking, I was like, I forgot they did Amazon style.

Do you remember Amazon style back in the day?

Like, I totally forgot about that.

Like, and that was the big talk of the town for like a year and a half.

So, yeah, man.

Wow.

It'll be fun to watch.

But it sounds like you're skeptical.

It does sound like if I was reading between the tea leaves there, it's too early to judge.

But you are skeptical of this?

Potentially.

I wouldn't even say skeptical.

I just feel like I don't have enough information.

I think there's a lot of things that have to fall into place for this to work for them, and maybe it will.

I think we need to get more than just the city planning documents.