The supermarket industry (and plenty of other retailers) lost its collective mind for a minute or two when news broke that Amazon had acquired Whole Foods this summer. Predating that deal, though, were a number of others between Amazon and grocery and convenience store chains that received a lot less attention. These partnerships involve the placement of Amazon Lockers within partner stores; partnerships that will perhaps be reexamined in the months to come, particularly by the grocery contingent.

“Amazon Lockers,” as described by the company, “are secure, self-service kiosks where customers can pick up Amazon.com packages at a time and place that is convenient for them.”

Recent Chain Store Guide market research determined that of the more than 2,000 Amazon Lockers in the United States, 80% have been placed within C-stores and supermarkets. C-stores alone account for more than 50% of all locker placements, and on the surface, such relationship appears to be a win-win for all parties. Amazon is able to provide its customers with easy access to their orders, and a retail segment that relies on impulse purchases draws that much more foot traffic. As long as Amazon fees and incremental sales make up for shelf space lost to the lockers, the deal makes sense for the C-store operator. And until Amazon figures out a way to instantly deliver tall boys, Slurpees and gasoline, the C-store has little to fear from direct competition.  In fact, 7-Eleven is Amazon’s largest program partner across all industries, as its stores house nearly one-third of Amazon Lockers.

Amazon’s grocery partners, though, may be having second thoughts after Amazon made its intentions in the grocery space crystal clear with the Whole Foods acquisition. Albertsons Companies (under the Albertsons, Safeway and Vons banners) is the primary player in this space with almost 300 locker locations in its stores. The other major participant is SUPERVALU Inc. and its Cubs, Farm Fresh and Shoppers banners. Together, these two companies account for nearly 80% of Amazon Locker placements within the supermarket space.

Chain Store Guide’s Retail Locations Database now contains geocoded location data, street addresses and company listings for all 2,044 Amazon Lockers. More importantly, we also offer our clients and customers access to more than 750,000 individual retail and restaurant store locations that they use to meet their site selection, competitive analysis, mapping, merchandising, marketing and logistics needs. If you need data in the convenience store or supermarket industries, give us a call.