Amazon.com is planning to introduce the drive-through grocery concept to Sunnyvale. The e-commerce giant is working on a new drive-up store concept in Silicon Valley that will allow customers to order grocery items online and then schedule a pickup at a dedicated center according to their convenience.

According to the reports in Silicon Valley Business Journal, Amazon’s first location would likely to be Sunnyvale where a real estate developer has submitted plans for a new 11,600-square-foot building and grocery pickup area at 777 Sunnyvale Saratoga Road. Though Amazon is not named in the documents, sources familiar with the developments feel that Amazon is the likely tenant. The journal opines that concept would eventually cover multiple sites at the Silicon Valley. AmazonFresh, the company’s grocery delivery service which promises to deliver on same- and next-day, has been expanding into major metropolitan areas in recent years. This initiative would open up new chapter in the company’s budding grocery ambitions.

Such “click-and-collect” services have been popular in Europe for many years, reports Digital Trends. But such offerings are yet to start-off in the U.S. Amazon’s grocery delivery service already exists in the Silicon Valley. The choice to collect the grocery times would sound attractive to those who prefer avoiding delivery windows. On the other hand, Amazon would be able to handle logistics in a better way. The pressure of delivering goods would reduce the cost of its operations. This move by the e-commerce giant can pose serious threat to the existing super markets.

As reported by SFGATE, an agenda item in front of the Sunnyvale zoning department mentions about the project. The applicant illustrates the anticipated use as a grocery retail business where customers would utilise the internet to pre-order their grocery and retail items. Both Amazon and Google deliver groceries and other items to customers’ homes in select markets, including the Bay Area. It is worth mentioning that Walmart has also extended a curbside pickup program and started testing a new drive-up grocery concept in Arkansas as well.

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