Amazon is creating a lot of unrest in the grocery world.
The company has its fingers in many pots in a play for dominance in food retail. Amazon Go, a cashier-free convenience store that’s still in beta testing, is one of those pots.
Amazon Go uses technology to sense when a customer grabs something off a shelf and charges their account for it. So far Amazon has opened one such convenience store in its hometown of Seattle and only employees have access to it during the testing face. But Amazon did unveil the concept to the world in the video below at the end of 2016.
A few weeks later, French retailer Monoprix launched the parody video below, claiming that there’s nothing novel about the concept of a grocery store without checkout lines.
The video, first spotted by The Seattle Times, is almost a frame-for-frame replica of the Amazon Go teaser.
“Over 10 years ago, we were wondering what would shopping look like if you could walk into a store, grab what you want, and just go,” a French narrator says in English. “What if we could bring technology and advanced customer service so you never have to wait in line?”
The video is promoting Monoprix Livraison à domicile +, a service the retailer has been offering for a decade. Customers can load up their carts with groceries, drop them off at the front of the store, and a courier will deliver the items to the shopper’s home two to three hours later. Customers pay when their groceries are delivered.
“You don’t need an app to go shopping so put away your phone and shop,” the Monoprix video says. “It’s really that simple.”
Monoprix’s jab at Amazon reflects the anxiety the e-commerce giant is creating among retailers — particularly grocers — around the world. Their concern is legitimate; Amazon is building a powerful grocery operation in the U.S. and recently spotted trademarks suggest Amazon Go may be expanding to Europe.
Amazon just announced plans to acquire Whole Foods for $13.7 billion, vastly increasing its physical footprint and grocery delivery options. The company has tested other grocery concepts in its hometown with two AmazonFresh Pickup sites. Amazon has also rolled out the AmazonFresh grocery delivery service across the country.
