By Sunayana Prabhu
HOLMDEL – Amazon has been in the process of opening two Amazon Fresh grocery store locations in the Two River area, in Holmdel and Eatontown, for nearly two years now. Although the online retail giant boasted of a “unique” shopping experience with its Just Walk Out program, allowing shoppers to skip the checkout line completely, the company has confirmed it may completely do away with the program due to issues. Amazon Fresh will retain its smart Dash Carts which let customers check out through a digital pad affixed to the cart.
While activity at both locations seems to have stagnated, according to the company, Amazon has started the hiring process for the Eatontown store; while a spokesperson wasn’t forthcoming with an exact date, the doors may open soon.
“We can confirm we are bringing an Amazon Fresh store to Eatontown, NJ, and look forward to serving the community with high-quality grocery items at a great value,” Amazon spokesperson Griffin Buch told The Two River Times by email April 16.
Amazon Fresh is currently hiring part-time grocery associates for its 137 Route 35, Eatontown, location, the spot previously occupied by Toys “R” Us. In the online job posting, the company boasts of “innovative in-store technology” to make “shopping more convenient by enabling customers to skip the checkout line and effortlessly navigate our aisles.”
The global retail giant ventured into the grocery arena when it bought Whole Foods Market in 2017. With its Amazon Fresh stores, the company hopes to build a “best-in-class grocery shopping experience whether shopping in store or online.”
Both locations in the Two River area are located on Route 35, a busy corridor packed with specialty and staple food markets such as ShopRite, Stop & Shop, Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, Livoti’s Old World Market and Uncle Guiseppe’s. A Lidl sits almost directly across Route 35 from the Eatontown location.
The stores have been under construction since 2022. The signage is still under wraps, but the facades have been finished, and shopping cart shelters have been built in the parking lots. Electric vehicle chargers have also been added to the lots. While the company is actively hiring in Eatontown, there is no word yet on hiring for the Holmdel location in the Commons at Holmdel Plaza in the former Best Market space.
The variety and range of grocery brands available to Two River-area residents is vast, making for stiff competition, but Amazon is hoping to create “an unparalleled range of brands, and a variety of ways to shop” with its grocery chain, Buch said.
Amazon Fresh may not be unique in its product offerings – in fact, in collaboration with the Whole Foods supply chain, the store broadly sells the same items – but it will offer a unique shopping experience despite removing the convenient Just Walk Out feature from its grocery stores.
“We’ve invested a lot of time redesigning a number of our Amazon Fresh stores over the last year,” Buch said. The company brought an expanded selection, low prices on even more grocery items, and greater convenience with updated check- out options to redesigned stores, and found those changes “resonating” with customers. As part of those updates, “we’re removing Just Walk Out technology in favor of Amazon Dash Cart, our smart shopping cart,” he explained. Although customers enjoyed the benefit of skipping the checkout line with Just Walk Out, they also wanted the ability to easily find nearby products and deals, view a receipt as they shopped and know how much money they saved before leaving the store. The Amazon Dash Cart will give customers “all these benefits including skipping the checkout line,” Buch said.
According to the company, the Just Walk Out technology will continue to be offered in Amazon Go stores, the smaller format Amazon Fresh stores, and more third-party retailers. There are more than 130 third-party Just Walk Out technology locations in the U.S., the United Kingdom, Australia and Canada – with new locations launching every month – including at travel retailers, sports stadiums, entertainment venues, conference centers, theme parks, convenience stores, hospitals and on college campuses.
The Two River Times reported on the Amazon Dash Cart (also available at some Whole Foods Markets) in an Aug. 12, 2022, article. The cart seamlessly blends online and in-store shopping. For the technologically timid, a traditional checkout with cashiers will be available.
According to information on Amazon’s website, “The cart uses a combination of computer vision algorithms and sensor fusion to identify items you put in the cart. Simply grab an item, scan it on one of the Dash Cart cameras, and place it in the cart like you normally would. When you exit through the store’s Amazon Dash Cart lane, sensors automatically identify the cart, and your payment is processed using the credit card on your Amazon account.”
The cart has built-in sensors, like a GPS, that can not only detect products shoppers take from or return to shelves but can also track their path through the aisles, accumulating a wealth of information on consumer behavior.
The company already boasts “a large online grocery business and millions of products available for fast delivery.” The effort now is to make a foray into the brick-and-mortar market.
The article originally appeared in the April 25 – May 1, 2024 print edition of The Two River Times.
