Amazon Shifts Grocery Focus To Online And Whole Foods As It Closes All Fresh And Go Stores

Core Insights - Amazon is discontinuing its Fresh grocery and Amazon Go convenience store concepts to refocus its grocery strategy on online delivery and Whole Foods [1][2] Group 1: Store Closures - Amazon will close all 57 Amazon Fresh stores and 15 Amazon Go locations due to the failure to provide a "truly distinctive customer experience" [2] - Some of the closed Amazon Fresh locations will be converted into Whole Foods stores [3] Group 2: Strategic Shift - Amazon aims to narrow the gap with Walmart, which holds a 21% market share in groceries, by enhancing online sales and quick delivery, while expanding its Whole Foods Market business [4] - Whole Foods has seen over 40% sales growth since Amazon's acquisition for $13.7 billion in 2017, and Amazon plans to add over 100 more Whole Foods locations in the coming years [4] Group 3: Online Grocery Performance - Amazon served over 150 million grocery customers last year, generating $150 billion in gross grocery and everyday-essentials sales [4] - The company introduced same-day delivery in over 5,000 U.S. cities and plans to expand this service in 2026 [4] Group 4: Technology and Market Position - Amazon Go's "Just Walk Out" technology has been licensed to over 360 third-party locations, despite the Go stores not gaining enough traction for further expansion [5] - Amazon Fresh supermarkets struggled to differentiate themselves from mainstream grocery stores, unlike Whole Foods, which has a clear market identity [6]