September 17, 2020 • 10 mins
Amazon has a brand new grocery store concept and the first location is opening in Woodland Hills, CA. The Amazon Fresh store features a mix of local and national brands along with organics and freshly prepared items. There's an emphasis on low prices and high-tech checkout.Follow Richhttps://twitter.com/richontechStore location:Amazon Fresh grocery store opens Thursday, September 17. Hours are from 7 AM to 10 PM daily. The store is located at 6245 Topanga Canyon Blvd, Woodland Hills, CA 91367See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Rich Demiro here Rich on Tech with Jeff Helbling, the
vice president of Amazon Fresh Stores, got a new store
opening in Woodland Hills today. Jeff, tell me about this store.
Just give me the quick rundown. Is it a traditional
grocery store? Is it?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What is it like? Well? Thanks Rich. We're incredibly excited
to open our doors today to the Woodland Hills community. There.
The stores designs from the ground up to offer a
seamless grocery shopping experience, whether you're shopping in store online.
We've taken our decades of operations experience at Amazon to
(00:39):
deliver consistently low prices for everybody in three same day
delivery and pick up for Prime members. We've also introduced
new ways to make grocery shopping more convenient. The Woodland
Hills store is the first store where customers can use
our Amazon Dash Cart, which enables them to skip the
checkout line, and a set of new elect features, including
(01:01):
the in store Assistant and electa lists in store help
them better manage their shopping lists and better navigate our ouse. Last,
but not least, we're very proud of our product offering
and prices, particularly our fresh produce and Fresh prepared suits
which are made by our culinary team in store every day,
(01:23):
a couple of items to call out. Within the store,
we offer fresh bakes that get made every day for
eighty nine cents, fresh baked pizza slices for dollars seventy nine,
and riches chickens for four ninety seven. So we're excited
to have customers come in the store to see see
what they think.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Now, can you explain the dash cart just quickly? So
I go through the store and I scan my own
items and I can just walk out as long as
I have sort of an Amazon account attached to it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah. So the way it works is you walk into
the store and you actually scan into the dash cart,
You pull up your Amazon app. There's a QR code
in the app, and use that to sign into the cart.
You then put bags into the cart and you shop
as you normally would. The dash cart has inward facing
(02:14):
cameras that sand items for you as you put them
into the cart. It also has a scale's way items
as you go, and so essentially you just shop like
you normally would. As you put an item into the cart,
the cart recognizes the item and then it also pulls
up the item on the screen, so you can essentially
(02:36):
see your running tally of purchases to go through the store.
When you're done shopping, we have a dash cart aisle
that you simply exit out of and you walk right
out of the store.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Now real quick with the running do you see a
running total of what you're spending or just a running
kind of tab of the things that you purchased.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
You see each item that you purchase, how many you purchase,
the price of each, and then it adds up the
running tab of everything that you purchase as you go,
and so it's essentially a live digital account of you know,
the receipt you would get at a checkout, and if
you decide to pull anything out of the current you
(03:17):
change your mind, you just take the item, put it
back on the shelf. Then it will also subtract it
and it'll show that line as you go as well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
That's kind of a handy future for those of us
that want to stick to a budget when we go
into the store, because sometimes it's easy to overspend. Let's
talk about cashier, so you still have regular cashiers as well.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You don't do that, right, yeah, we do. We expect
some customers will be thrilled to use the dash part.
Other customers are just going to want to use the
cash here like any other grocery store, and so we
have traditional point and sail stations with cashiers. The thing
(03:56):
I would add there is we do have contactless payments
customers that want it, so similar to the way that
you use your Amazon app and the QR code to
sign into a dash card. If you choose and want
to do that at at the at the cash app,
you can do that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Now, why not just open a new Whole Foods? Why
come up with a whole new way of creating a
grocery store.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, we're excited to give customers the additional choice. You know,
Whole Food has been and continues to be the pioneer
in natural and organic foods. Uh. It's a business we're
very proud to have, and we see Amazon Fresh being
essentially a compliment. The two businesses serve different customer needs
(04:50):
and we're excited about offering customers the choice between them,
and you know, we continue to invest and grow in
both of them, and we set customers will white shopping.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Both and there's a difference of the things you can
get like you mentioned earlier, it's much more of a
variety of things like Cheetos or sorry cheerios or chips
from Free to Lay, Coca Cola, but also some of
those organic brands as well. Will it will there be
an emphasis on organic. Will you offer a lot of
that stuff in the store.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
We will offer episodes, We will offer organic products in store,
but not to the extent that Whole Foods does Whole
Foods offer It's much more focused sort of in the
organic space. As you mentioned, we're going to have a
larger conventional offer. We will have more national brands the
type if you mentioned. We will have Cheetos.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Also, okay, just making sure they're Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So the offers actually, when you look at the product offers,
the majority of products are different between the two stores.
And again where we're excited to offer customers the choice
and the ability to get both.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Now I heard earlier when you mentioned about the Prime
members and the and the free pickup. Do Prime members
have any advantage shopping here? Do I need a Prime
membership to get in or to get certain pricing?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So in terms of pricing within the store, everybody gets
the same low prices every day. You do not need
a Prime membership to either shop the store or you know,
to use the dash cart. You just need an Amazon
account to use the dash cart. Prime members do, however,
(06:33):
get free pickup and delivery from the store, and Prime
members are also eligible to use the Primer Board's credit card,
which gives them five percent off alter store.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Now, Jeff, you said you had a local connection to
Southern California. Grocery stores are historically extremely tough in Southern California.
We had Fresh and Easy come in and just did
not do well. Then we had another brand come in
a couple of years ago. It lasted like, I think,
less than six months. It was a brand from Oregon.
(07:10):
What makes you think that Amazon Fresh will be able
to succeed in this Southern California grocery store very competitive
grocery store market.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, I at first I would agree with the you know,
the premise of your question. You know, grocery is a
very competitive space, and certainly we take nothing for granted
in opening a new offer. It's up to us to
offer something that's better for customers that earn their trust
in windsor business. In doing so. You know, we we
(07:46):
do our best to focus on those things that are
eternal that customers care most about when they put the store,
and that's you know, is the store convenient for me?
Is it in a great location, And you know, in
our case, can I get free pick up and deliver
if I'm a prime number? Second, does it have prices,
uh low prices on the items that I want? And third,
(08:07):
does it have the products that I want? Does it
have really great high quality options? And you know, we
think we've opened the store that delivers on all three
of us. We're very proud of our pricing, and you know,
we're excited for customers to come in and experience that.
We're very excited about our product offering, particularly again in
(08:29):
our produce areas and our prepared food areas, but also
sort of our mix of brands and local and regional products.
And finally, we're we're really proud of the you know,
the convenience we offer customers, whether that be uh, you know,
the convenience if you're a Prime member of getting free
fast shipping, home delivery or pick up, or if you
(08:53):
choose the shop in the store, getting to use our
dash cards or election just to make your your shopping
trip more easy.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
We will there any products like non grocery like a
SD card or something you know that Amazon identifies as
popular in the area. Some electronics like the you know,
Amazon firestick, any of those types of things in the store.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah. Yeah. When you come into the store, you'll find
there's an area we're calling sort of the best of
Amazon Products, which includes sort of a number of things.
Most of them have some sort of food relation, but
not all of them. So you'll be able to buy
eco devices, for example. You'll also be able to buy
things like instant post, the pots and.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jeff, tell me where can we expect these stores to
open next?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
After Woodland Hills, Rich, We've announced a couple more stores
in Los Angeles, So after Woodland Hills, we're actually operating
three stores right now for online only operations that we
tend to open up later this year. Those are in
Irvine North Region, North Hollywood, and we also have announced
a couple of stores in the Illinois region around Chicago.
(10:02):
So Apra, Bill Schomberg, and okan.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
All right, Jeff Helpling, vice president of Amazon Fresh Stores,
looking forward to the opening of the Woodland Hills store
here in California. Thanks so much for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Thank you so much. Rich,
Rich Demiro here Rich on Tech with Jeff Helbling, the
vice president of Amazon Fresh Stores, got a new store
opening in Woodland Hills today. Jeff, tell me about this store.
Just give me the quick rundown. Is it a traditional
grocery store? Is it?
Speaker 2 (00:16):
What is it like? Well? Thanks Rich. We're incredibly excited
to open our doors today to the Woodland Hills community. There.
The stores designs from the ground up to offer a
seamless grocery shopping experience, whether you're shopping in store online.
We've taken our decades of operations experience at Amazon to
(00:39):
deliver consistently low prices for everybody in three same day
delivery and pick up for Prime members. We've also introduced
new ways to make grocery shopping more convenient. The Woodland
Hills store is the first store where customers can use
our Amazon Dash Cart, which enables them to skip the
checkout line, and a set of new elect features, including
(01:01):
the in store Assistant and electa lists in store help
them better manage their shopping lists and better navigate our ouse. Last,
but not least, we're very proud of our product offering
and prices, particularly our fresh produce and Fresh prepared suits
which are made by our culinary team in store every day,
(01:23):
a couple of items to call out. Within the store,
we offer fresh bakes that get made every day for
eighty nine cents, fresh baked pizza slices for dollars seventy nine,
and riches chickens for four ninety seven. So we're excited
to have customers come in the store to see see
what they think.
Speaker 1 (01:43):
Now, can you explain the dash cart just quickly? So
I go through the store and I scan my own
items and I can just walk out as long as
I have sort of an Amazon account attached to it.
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah. So the way it works is you walk into
the store and you actually scan into the dash cart,
You pull up your Amazon app. There's a QR code
in the app, and use that to sign into the cart.
You then put bags into the cart and you shop
as you normally would. The dash cart has inward facing
(02:14):
cameras that sand items for you as you put them
into the cart. It also has a scale's way items
as you go, and so essentially you just shop like
you normally would. As you put an item into the cart,
the cart recognizes the item and then it also pulls
up the item on the screen, so you can essentially
(02:36):
see your running tally of purchases to go through the store.
When you're done shopping, we have a dash cart aisle
that you simply exit out of and you walk right
out of the store.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
Now real quick with the running do you see a
running total of what you're spending or just a running
kind of tab of the things that you purchased.
Speaker 2 (02:56):
You see each item that you purchase, how many you purchase,
the price of each, and then it adds up the
running tab of everything that you purchase as you go,
and so it's essentially a live digital account of you know,
the receipt you would get at a checkout, and if
you decide to pull anything out of the current you
(03:17):
change your mind, you just take the item, put it
back on the shelf. Then it will also subtract it
and it'll show that line as you go as well.
Speaker 1 (03:24):
That's kind of a handy future for those of us
that want to stick to a budget when we go
into the store, because sometimes it's easy to overspend. Let's
talk about cashier, so you still have regular cashiers as well.
Speaker 2 (03:35):
You don't do that, right, yeah, we do. We expect
some customers will be thrilled to use the dash part.
Other customers are just going to want to use the
cash here like any other grocery store, and so we
have traditional point and sail stations with cashiers. The thing
(03:56):
I would add there is we do have contactless payments
customers that want it, so similar to the way that
you use your Amazon app and the QR code to
sign into a dash card. If you choose and want
to do that at at the at the cash app,
you can do that as well.
Speaker 1 (04:15):
Now, why not just open a new Whole Foods? Why
come up with a whole new way of creating a
grocery store.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Well, we're excited to give customers the additional choice. You know,
Whole Food has been and continues to be the pioneer
in natural and organic foods. Uh. It's a business we're
very proud to have, and we see Amazon Fresh being
essentially a compliment. The two businesses serve different customer needs
(04:50):
and we're excited about offering customers the choice between them,
and you know, we continue to invest and grow in
both of them, and we set customers will white shopping.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Both and there's a difference of the things you can
get like you mentioned earlier, it's much more of a
variety of things like Cheetos or sorry cheerios or chips
from Free to Lay, Coca Cola, but also some of
those organic brands as well. Will it will there be
an emphasis on organic. Will you offer a lot of
that stuff in the store.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
We will offer episodes, We will offer organic products in store,
but not to the extent that Whole Foods does Whole
Foods offer It's much more focused sort of in the
organic space. As you mentioned, we're going to have a
larger conventional offer. We will have more national brands the
type if you mentioned. We will have Cheetos.
Speaker 1 (05:40):
Also, okay, just making sure they're Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
So the offers actually, when you look at the product offers,
the majority of products are different between the two stores.
And again where we're excited to offer customers the choice
and the ability to get both.
Speaker 1 (05:58):
Now I heard earlier when you mentioned about the Prime
members and the and the free pickup. Do Prime members
have any advantage shopping here? Do I need a Prime
membership to get in or to get certain pricing?
Speaker 2 (06:11):
So in terms of pricing within the store, everybody gets
the same low prices every day. You do not need
a Prime membership to either shop the store or you know,
to use the dash cart. You just need an Amazon
account to use the dash cart. Prime members do, however,
(06:33):
get free pickup and delivery from the store, and Prime
members are also eligible to use the Primer Board's credit card,
which gives them five percent off alter store.
Speaker 1 (06:48):
Now, Jeff, you said you had a local connection to
Southern California. Grocery stores are historically extremely tough in Southern California.
We had Fresh and Easy come in and just did
not do well. Then we had another brand come in
a couple of years ago. It lasted like, I think,
less than six months. It was a brand from Oregon.
(07:10):
What makes you think that Amazon Fresh will be able
to succeed in this Southern California grocery store very competitive
grocery store market.
Speaker 2 (07:21):
Well, I at first I would agree with the you know,
the premise of your question. You know, grocery is a
very competitive space, and certainly we take nothing for granted
in opening a new offer. It's up to us to
offer something that's better for customers that earn their trust
in windsor business. In doing so. You know, we we
(07:46):
do our best to focus on those things that are
eternal that customers care most about when they put the store,
and that's you know, is the store convenient for me?
Is it in a great location, And you know, in
our case, can I get free pick up and deliver
if I'm a prime number? Second, does it have prices,
uh low prices on the items that I want? And third,
(08:07):
does it have the products that I want? Does it
have really great high quality options? And you know, we
think we've opened the store that delivers on all three
of us. We're very proud of our pricing, and you know,
we're excited for customers to come in and experience that.
We're very excited about our product offering, particularly again in
(08:29):
our produce areas and our prepared food areas, but also
sort of our mix of brands and local and regional products.
And finally, we're we're really proud of the you know,
the convenience we offer customers, whether that be uh, you know,
the convenience if you're a Prime member of getting free
fast shipping, home delivery or pick up, or if you
(08:53):
choose the shop in the store, getting to use our
dash cards or election just to make your your shopping
trip more easy.
Speaker 1 (08:58):
We will there any products like non grocery like a
SD card or something you know that Amazon identifies as
popular in the area. Some electronics like the you know,
Amazon firestick, any of those types of things in the store.
Speaker 2 (09:13):
Yeah. Yeah. When you come into the store, you'll find
there's an area we're calling sort of the best of
Amazon Products, which includes sort of a number of things.
Most of them have some sort of food relation, but
not all of them. So you'll be able to buy
eco devices, for example. You'll also be able to buy
things like instant post, the pots and.
Speaker 1 (09:35):
Jeff, tell me where can we expect these stores to
open next?
Speaker 2 (09:37):
After Woodland Hills, Rich, We've announced a couple more stores
in Los Angeles, So after Woodland Hills, we're actually operating
three stores right now for online only operations that we
tend to open up later this year. Those are in
Irvine North Region, North Hollywood, and we also have announced
a couple of stores in the Illinois region around Chicago.
(10:02):
So Apra, Bill Schomberg, and okan.
Speaker 1 (10:05):
All right, Jeff Helpling, vice president of Amazon Fresh Stores,
looking forward to the opening of the Woodland Hills store
here in California. Thanks so much for joining me today.
Speaker 2 (10:14):
Thank you so much. Rich,
Host
Rich DeMuro
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