Amazon said on Wednesday that it had it rolls new online ordering methods for Senior membersincluding the ability to close standard orders and groceries with same-day shipping. The company is also adding more combined Amazon / Whole Foods fulfillment centers and is testing a store where robots pick up your Amazon orders while you shop for groceries.
The company’s integration of same-day Amazon.com grocery orders is launching in the Phoenix area. Customers can shop for “tens of thousands of grocery items” (including fresh) in addition to their regular Amazon orders there. AirPods or Lego sets. Items will be bundled into one order and arrive together within a user-selected same-day or overnight delivery window.
The company plans to expand the combined same-day model to more areas after testing and learning from the Phoenix trials.
Along similar lines, Amazon is expanding its product range in some Amazon Fresh fulfillment centers. The company is changing 26 of them globally to include “the best of all grocery and home goods on Amazon.com.” Like the Phoenix-area test, the expanding online store aims to combine orders from separate branches more efficiently.
Finally, the company is tested Whole Foods Market future Plymouth Meeting, Pennsylvania (about 19 miles from Philadelphia). The store will add an automated Amazon.com micro-location center to serve up household items (Amazon used Tide Pods and Pepsi as examples) while you browse the aisles, buying organic spinach and pita bread.
You’ll place orders on your phone and robots will prepare them in the back of the house while you shop. The application will contain a countdown of the estimated time remaining until completion. The idea is that the micro-fulfillment center order is completed when you check out: Take your phone to the counter, grab your Tide Pods, and start hopping.
The service will be available at the Plymouth Meeting store in 2025. The video below shows a visualization of the futuristic Philly-area in action.