Woolworths to open four new ‘dark stores’ to fight Amazon

Woolworths will open as many as four new so-called "dark stores" used to pack and ship online orders by the end of next year as Australia’s largest supermarket prepares to defend itself from Amazon.
Chairman Gordon Cairns told the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday that Woolworths was getting the supermarket chain into a position where it could compete with the e-commerce giant.
Amazon will start in Australia with a soft launch of its local site on Thursday, with its full-service offering expected to be available from Friday.
While the exact product range to be on offer is not clear, Amazon is becoming a significant player in the American grocery market through its Amazon Fresh service and investment in the up-market Whole Foods chain. Sydney Morning Herlad – Read more…