Amazon is considering a massive expansion of its Amazon Go retail store initiative, according to a new Bloomberg report. The e-commerce giant may open as many as 3,000 such stores by 2021, according to the report.
Amazon opened its first Amazon Go store in its hometown of Seattle in 2016. The store offers consumers a cashier-free shopping experience and tracks purchases through video cameras and sensors in store shelves.
Amazon’s first such store was positioned as a regular grocery store with limited inventory. The company is now considering narrowing its focus even further to freshly prepared foods that would appeal to lunch-time crowds — something that one of Bloomberg’s sources likened to the U.K. chain Pret a Manger.
The new chain would be a massive expansion of Amazon’s retail efforts, which also include Whole Foods as well as bookstores and in-mall kiosks.
In the past, Amazon has shown that it likes to use these stores to peddle other products that also benefit its media initiatives. Whole Foods, for instance, started selling Amazon Echo smart speakers almost immediately after the $13.4 billion acquisition of the grocery chain closed in August 2017.
