Jan 27 (Reuters) – Amazon said on Tuesday it would expand its same-day delivery service to more U.S. cities this year while closing some of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical locations to convert them into Whole Foods supermarket stores. The company said it plans to invest in opening more than 100 new Whole […]
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Amazon to expand same-day delivery, close some stores in Whole Foods expansion push
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Jan 27 (Reuters) – Amazon said on Tuesday it would expand its same-day delivery service to more U.S. cities this year while closing some of its Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh physical locations to convert them into Whole Foods supermarket stores.
The company said it plans to invest in opening more than 100 new Whole Foods Market locations over the next few years.
Amazon is looking to beef up its online grocery operations, as it seeks to better compete with retailers such as Walmart and Kroger and delivery services, including Instacart.
The company has also invested in speeding up delivery timelines to cater to customer demand for perishables, and had recently rolled out testing for 30-minute deliveries under the “Amazon Now” banner.
Amazon did not provide details on the workforce impact that is expected from the store closures. The company, however, said that it is working to help associates find other roles elsewhere in Amazon.
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru; Editing by Arun Koyyur)