Following on from the last blog about the Ei Group rolling out coffee shops inside their pubs, Amazon, who many claim have added to the death of the high street, are trialing a new bricks and mortar business – and no it’s not a bakery selling cakes and muffins to rival Greggs.
Jeff Bezos the Amazon founder, who recently became the richest man in the world, has opened a supermarket selling everything from baked beans to brownies. His supermarket doesn’t have checkouts, everyone is tracked, cameras see what you’ve taken from the shelves and when you’re finished you simply walk out and your amazon account is charged. No queuing, no unloading your trolley and nobody to scan your goods and take payment.
Bezos recently bought bricks and mortar store Wholefoods too. So, far from a future where everything is online Bezos must see value in an old fashioned business model. Possibly entering the supermarket sector to compete for the billions of dollars spent weekly.
So, in the future, after a long day of working remotely, we’ll be visiting the supermarket in our self driving cars, walking through a self service supermarket and having our goods delivered by drone instantly. One thing does seem to be missing; and that’s people ! We’re social animals, love to gossip over a cup of tea and slice of chocolate cake, where does it leave all that !