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Amazon (AMZN) Stops Pantry Program to Boost Grocery Retail Plans

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Amazon (AMZN - Free Report) has stopped its online grocery program namely Amazon Pantry in a bid to give a new shape to its grocery retail strategy.

Amazon Pantry, previously known as Prime Pantry, was started in 2014. Prime members were required to pay an extra $4.99 a month to avail unlimited free shipping on any orders of more than $40 from the service.

The intention, which lies behind the latest move, is to consolidate pantry service with the company’s main retail site.

Amazon has made several products, which were previously found in its pantry store, available on its main e-commerce page.

Move to Benefit Grocery Sales

With the closure of Amazon Pantry, the company strives to deliver an enhanced grocery shopping experience to customers.

Grocery shoppers will no longer be required to pay any extra subscription fee for the pantry items. They will get every grocery product on the main e-commerce site of the company at a much faster speed on the back of robust delivery services.

This is expected to accelerate grocery sales growth in the near term.

Moreover, Amazon’s latest move bodes well for its strengthening retail strategies, which include bolstering its online as well as offline retail presence, boosting distribution channels, and accelerating delivery, which have been instilling investors’ confidence in the stock.

Notably, Amazon has returned 68.3% over a year, outperforming the industry’s rally of 42.4%.

 

 

Deepening Retail Focus

Amazon’s step of making pantry products available on its primary e-commerce page is in sync with its deepening focus on retail.

Apart from the latest move, the company’s launch of the Amazon Fresh grocery store remains noteworthy.

Further, its expanding Whole Foods stores network across the United States remains a tailwind. Additionally, the growing base of Amazon Go, which is a cashier-less store of the company, is a major positive.

Further, strengthening of the Amazon 4-star store network — which stocks four-star or beyond rated products from categories like kitchen appliances and other items, home stuff, toys, books, devices, consumer electronics, and games —is another positive.

Moreover, expanding Amazon bookstores’ footprint is a tailwind.

Intensifying Retail Battle

Amazon’s aggressive stance on the core retail industry, especially grocery retail, continues to weigh on the brick-and-mortar stores as well as big retailers like Walmart (WMT - Free Report) , Target (TGT - Free Report) and The Kroger (KR - Free Report) .

We note that these retailers are leaving no stone unturned to counter Amazon’s competitive edge by ramping up their initiatives.

Nevertheless, Amazon’s rapidly expanding grocery pickup and delivery services, Prime Savings at all Whole Foods Stores and Whole Foods Market 365 stores across the United States beside other Prime benefits remain key catalysts.

Further, the company’s burgeoning offline retail chain is likely to sustain its momentum in the heightened battle.

Currently, Amazon carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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