Amazon is strengthening its grocery strategy, focusing decisively on increasingly faster online deliveries and the expansion of Whole Foods Market, while reviewing the scope of Amazon-branded physical stores. The Seattle-based group confirms its intention to focus investments on the fastest-growing areas, gradually closing stores. Amazon Go e Amazon Fresh physical stores, which will be partially converted under the Whole Foods Market banner.
The move comes in a context where Amazon It is now among the top three grocery operators in the United States, with over $150 billion in gross sales and more than 150 million customers purchasing groceries each year. The core of its strategy remains online. Amazon offers grocery deliveries in over 5.000 US cities and communities, including thousands served by Same-Day Delivery. Following positive results in 2025, the group plans to expand same-day delivery of fresh produce to new areas in 2026.
The introduction of perishables in Same-Day Delivery represented a game-changer: fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, and frozen foods can be purchased alongside millions of other items, with delivery within hours. Fresh grocery sales through this channel have grown 40-fold in a year, becoming one of the most ordered categories. In addition, Amazon is testing Amazon Now, an ultra-fast service that promises deliveries in around 30 minutes, replicating the convenience store experience directly to your home.
On the physical front, attention is focused on Whole Foods Market. Since its 2017 acquisition, the brand has seen sales growth of over 40% and now has over 550 stores. Amazon has announced the opening of more than 100 new stores in the coming years. Among the emerging formats, Whole Foods Market Daily Shop, a local store with a select assortment and a strong focus on everyday consumption, which will be further expanded by 2026.
The closure of physical Amazon Go and Amazon Fresh stores does not, however, mark a step backwards in terms of innovation: from these experiences, the technology was born Just walk out, now adopted in hundreds of third-party locations and dozens of Amazon fulfillment centers. Looking ahead, the group will continue to experiment with new concepts, including "store-within-a-store" models and the possibility of an integrated physical supercenter. The stated goal remains simple: to make grocery shopping simpler, faster, and more accessible by increasingly integrating online and offline.
