Which Amazon Brand Will Be The Lead In Grocery?

Amazon has signaled for the last months about their grocery strategy - taking new leases in Los Angeles. One of the most interesting points I feel is what they will call it?

I think if they are smart, they will name these stores "Prime Fresh" or something similar.

Generally, a consumer can only remember one thing about a brand. Do you want the consumer to know you can order a million things on Amazon or do you want them to identify more with "Prime".

Amazon's strategy over recent times has been to downplay the Amazon brand in favor of the rapidly rising Prime brand.  Witness Amazon Video now called Prime Video, a post-launch renaming!

Also, recall the interview with Jeff Wilke previously. He was asked a question about Whole Foods. What is the #1 thing he cares about? It was that Prime customers are seeing real value.

If the cornerstone of Amazon grocery is Prime, I expect it to be branded Prime. Perhaps over time Whole Foods will be rebranded to Prime as well, but doing it soon could cause more harm than good. Often the best time to do it is after the new brand (Prime Fresh) already has a great name, and Whole Foods is the outlier.

What's a little surprising is that Amazon doesn't buy up regional grocery chains, perhaps someone can analyze that for me. ;-)