Dive Brief:

• “Micro visits,” or visits lasting between three and five minutes, were up 11% at Whole Foods stores featuring Amazon Lockers since August, according to Reuters, citing data from inMarket. Stores in the same cities that don't have the lockers saw a 7% rise in quick trips. 
• inMarket pooled data from 98 Whole Foods stores in 10 cities, including New York, Boston, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Atlanta. Nationwide, micro visits make up 9% of all store trips, inMarket noted, with Whole Foods lagging at 6.5%.
• Launched in 2012, Amazon Lockers store packages for consumers to pick up using a unique digital code. The service is popular among shoppers living in apartment buildings, and among those wary of “porch pirates.” 7-Eleven stores in more than 300 cities also have Amazon lockers in them.

Dive Insight:

Consumers are increasingly looking to grocery stores for meal solutions and fill-in trips rather than the stock-up shops of decades past. According to research firm IRI, so-called “quick trips” account for a third of all U.S. grocery spending and two-thirds of all shopping trips.

Amazon Lockers seem to be inspiring these trips by bringing shoppers inside Whole Foods stores. Around 16% of the grocer’s 473 stores now feature the lockers, with many located just a short walk from grab-and-go items, produce and other impulse selections. More could be on the way, assuming Amazon’s data has shown a similar store boost.

Amazon Lockers are popular with those who live in apartment buildings without a doorman, but they’re also used by people who are justifiably wary of package thieves. Research suggests that as many as a third of U.S. consumers have experienced package theft.

Field Agent, meanwhile, recently enlisted 20 shoppers to use Amazon Lockers for the first time, and most noted they would use the service again. One respondent said she wouldn’t use the service all the time, but would around holidays and to pick up high-value goods.

The service is a unique integration, but it follows a long tradition of retailers housing separate services in order to drive traffic. Bank branches, Red Box movie kiosks and parcel delivery outposts are just a few of the services that exist inside grocery stores. In Georgia, Kroger shoppers can renew their licenses at self-service kiosks from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

For Amazon, this serves as another integration that boosts its relationship with its customers and provides Whole Foods with a traffic boost. The ultimate key to success for the integration will rely on where the lockers are situated. They’re too bulky to plop down in the produce department, of course, but if they’re located too far from the grocer’s marquee sights and smells, it might be too easy to pop in and pop out without shopping for anything.