Amazon Fresh is a formidable competitor trying to make inroads in the physical grocery space. For this reason, we feel that having a wider range of players and perspectives evaluate its strengths and weaknesses is better.

To help do this, we wanted to get a view of Amazon Fresh through the eyes of an experienced hands-on grocery executive, given that building and running a store that offers a variety of grocery categories – including perishables – requires skills, knowledge, and equipment to deliver effective merchandising and consistently high-quality fresh product.

We asked one grocery executive to give us their candid reaction after visiting the two Amazon Fresh stores open in the Chicago area. As you’ll see below, these observations underscore that while Amazon Fresh does many things right, there is room for improvement, especially in the perishable categories.

Heads up - Even though Amazon Fresh probably won’t become the main grocery store for many shoppers, the store reflects a bigger issue: that many younger shoppers (and employees as well) don’t find a big supermarket compelling or relevant – and this is a challenge which can’t be ignored.

What was your initial impression of the Amazon Fresh stores? ‍

GROCERY EXEC: My first impression at the Naperville store was not great, in terms of any wow factor. On the positive side, I was greeted at the door and asked if I wanted to try the Dash Cart, and I tried it of course.

In contrast, the first impression of the Schaumburg store was quite different – and better – than the experience at Naperville. The Shaumburg store had more appeal and was laid out better.

What was your experience with the Dash Cart?

GROCERY EXEC:  The first few items I put in the cart seemed to miss the mark – they weren’t getting scanned – but I chalked that up to operator error. I soon got the hang of it, and after that it worked well. I was amazed that the cart weighs the produce and snaps a picture of each item. I also liked the double bagging with handles placed in each Dash Cart for customers.

At the Schaumburg store, I actually had to wait in a line to get a Dash Cart. Now that I was an old pro at using it, it was actually a plus for shopping the store. I guess the “shop and scan” installed more than a decade ago at some supermarkets was ahead of its time.

Checking out with the Dash Cart was as easy as it could be. I just stopped in the Dash lane, paused for a few seconds, and was done.

Since it’s called Amazon Fresh, what did you think of their produce?

GROCERY EXEC:  At the Naperville store, I was not impressed. For example, the hard-shell squash was garbage. On a scale of 1 to 10, it was maybe a 5.  The rotation was hit and miss on many items, but today you see that problem everywhere, probably reflecting the lack of knowledge and training as well as payroll restrictions.

There was a limited variety of produce items compared with what other supermarkets typically carry. As for retail prices in produce, nothing knocked me over. I did find a good price on 3-lb. bags of almonds ($3 less than the supermarket competition). The quality of the almonds wasn’t great, mixed sizes in the bag with lots of hulls, but $3 is a big difference.

I couldn’t find a ripe avocado and the bananas looked chilled. I had to double check on the retail price of 15 cents each. Interesting, but I didn’t take the time to do a comparison of each versus pound pricing.

In Schaumburg, the produce was better than Naperville, but I still saw the same issue with product rotation.

The limited variety in produce comes as no surprise. We’ve been told that Amazon Fresh wants to take advantage of the more limited choice without turning off customers. Any impression about the other fresh departments?

GROCERY EXEC:  I liked the home meal replacement items. The retail prices weren’t bad for a meal, and the packaging was nice. The section looked well-shopped. I imagine it’s a good online item. There were also some good prices on chicken breasts and some of the roasts looked very nice.

I didn’t care much for the service meat/fish counter in Naperville. The product looked old. Some fish was dry, and the perch filet looked particularly dry.

The meat counter in Schaumburg also had some dried out looking product in it. Maybe they need to consider a display case with more humidity.

The service deli was small and not impressive, but the bakery and deli in Schaumburg looked much better than Naperville.

What were your impressions about grocery?

GROCERY EXEC:  The grocery aisles seemed average. A can of peas is a can of peas. Again, not a very good selection in a number of the categories. For example, I only found three flavors of Sugar Free Jello; the competition must have 7 or 8. Also, I didn’t see much of the typical merchandising tying in with the Jell-O – for example, there was no Cool Whip, I searched twice but no luck.

They had plenty of Amazon “own brand” products, and some of it looked pretty good.

The dairy had some good retail prices, like a large bottle of CoffeeMate for $5.49 versus $6+ at the supermarket. I also saw some good yogurt prices, but nowhere near the variety at the typical supermarket.

What about layout and fixture use?

GROCERY EXEC:  In both stores, they had the product stored under the display tables; I understand utilizing the space, but I don’t care for the approach – just not my thing.

The frozen food aisle in Naperville was puzzling. One side of the aisle was frozen foods, and on the other side was household items. The next aisle was similar – frozen items sitting across from Pampers and paper products just didn’t make sense.

The coffin case displays in the meat department with sliding doors were nice. I think I’ve seen the same model at some of the Aldi stores.

How about online shopping?

GROCERY EXEC:  At Naperville, it looked at first like there were a lot of customers in the store, but most turned out to be employees doing online orders and curbside. Naperville is a perfect location for that kind of business.

I stopped in Schaumburg on a Saturday afternoon, and it was very busy. There were definitely more customers than there were employees picking orders.

I talked to two young employees who were picking orders and asked if there was any more yogurt in the store. She scanned the shelf label and said, “No, sorry. That’s all we have.” I asked them if they liked working at Amazon Fresh and they both said, “Yes.” I followed up with, “Beats working at a supermarket?” and they both said, “Yes.” It’s a problem that it’s not cool to work in a supermarket.

Any final thoughts on Amazon Fresh?

GROCERY EXEC: The stores don’t seem to have a personal touch, especially if you need something special. I don’t think it will be a weekly destination for me, but I’m sure it will be for some people.

Pictures from Amazon Fresh Schamburg - Photo credit: Stephanie Halley