The retailer banked big on the cashier-less tech. It's now out at Amazon Fresh stores in the U.S. But Amazon's grocery ambitions are only shapeshifting.
One place you hardly ever see dynamic pricing? American supermarkets.
Why is that? Why shouldn't the prices for meat or bread or produce go down as they get older? Why does all the milk in the store cost the same, even when the "sell by" dates are weeks apart? Wouldn't a little more flexibility around prices be better for customers and help reduce waste?
Professors Robert Evan Sanders and Ioannis (Yannis) Stamatopoulus had similar questions. So they set out to discover what was keeping supermarkets from employing a more dynamic approach, and what might convince them it was time for a change ... in pricing.
This episode was hosted by Amanda Aronczyk and Nick Fountain. It was produced by Willa Rubin and edited by Keith Romer. It was engineered by Valentina Rodríguez Sánchez and fact-checked by Sierra Juarez.
The Federal Trade Commission and 9 states want to stop the deal that would combine the country's two largest grocery store chains. The companies say they have to merge to compete with Walmart.
"Shoppers will have fewer choices and less competition, and, without a competitive marketplace, they will pay higher prices at the grocery store," Washington state attorney general Bob Ferguson said.
America's two largest supermarket chains have struck a $25 billion deal to combine. Now the FTC is about to decide whether it will block or allow it, and under what conditions.
Amazon laid off workers at its brick-and-mortar grocery stores last week — the latest sign of the e-commerce giant's struggles to stand out in the competitive grocery landscape.
