Winners And Losers As Amazon Moves Into The Grocery Space

In early 2017, Amazon.com, Inc AMZN will attempt to disrupt yet another major market: the supermarket business. A fully automated Amazon Go grocery store in Seattle is expected to be open to the public next year. There are no cashiers or lines at the store; customers are billed via an app on their phone, and in-store sensors detect which items are in each customer’s shopping cart.

Amazon Go

When customers are finished shopping, they simply walk out of the store as if they were shoplifting, and Amazon takes care of the rest.

Some Americans are concerned that the demise of the grocery cashier will eliminate precious jobs from the economy, but an Amazon spokesperson told Benzinga that Amazon Go stores will have “at least as many associates as a traditional retail store.”

Amazon certainly has a track record of success with new concepts, so investors should already be thinking about potential Amazon Go winners and losers.

Potential Winners And Losers

Bernstein highlighted vision automation companies, video surveillance companies and camera suppliers as big winners. These names include companies like Cognex Corporation CGNX, Magna International Inc. (USA) MGA and Sony Corp (ADR) SNE.

On the other hand, the obvious losers are the other competitors in the grocery business. That list includes names like Kroger Co KR, Sprouts Farmers Market Inc SFM, SUPERVALU INC. SVU and Whole Foods Market, Inc. WFM.

Innovation Reputation

Amazon has earned quite a reputation for its innovation. However, the idea of an automated grocery store isn’t exactly new. Way back in 1937, Piggly Wiggly founder Clarence Saunders launched Keydoozle. Keydoozle customers used keys to select the items they wanted to purchase, and the items were carried to the register via conveyor belt. Unfortunately, the idea was way ahead of its time, and Keydoozle closed down in 1949 after repeated issues with its technology.

Amazon is hoping its technology will be a bit more reliable 80 years later.