Four Questions Consumer Products Companies Should Be Asking About Amazon Go

I wanted to take a quick opportunity to pass along a new video from Amazon, which represents a fascinating look into the shopping experience of the future with Amazon Go….one that is not that far away.  It’s an exciting challenge for the all of us to think about how this will impact us as individual shoppers and consumers and the implications for the Consumer Products industry.

Amazon Go, the convenience store highlighted in this promotional video, operated with “just walk out” technology, is currently in beta and set to launch to the public early next year. Another retail format, curbside pickup, is rumored to be opening as well in Seattle early in 2017.

While it’s easy to get seduced by the technology, the disruption that this may cause to food and beverage companies and the consumer products industry in general is tangible.

For sales and marketing teams, today’s successful promotional tactics will be challenged but there will be an opportunity to be more visible to the convenience-driven consumer and the ability to measure decisions at the shelf. With supply chain teams, common planning methods and logistics will be challenged but there is an opportunity to enhance decisions with real-time data. For retail companies, the pace of change will be faster. Loss prevention practices, already a major issue with retailers will become of paramount importance.

As an influencer or driver in Consumer Products, these transformational changes driven by Amazon and the Amazon Go model will be forcing your team to ask some difficult questions. What does this mean for the ways in which out-of-stocks could potentially be tracked?  How will promotional tactics be deployed in this environment?  And for retail companies, how do you keep pace with game-changing investments and innovation from Amazon and other eCommerce giants?

This is a great opportunity to take a step back and ask yourself, are the investments you are making in your business today setting you up for success in the future?