If you haven’t been living under a rock for the last decade, it’s a good bet that you have used Amazon to purchase something. The online retailer giant, started by Jeff Bezos out of his garage some years ago has dominated the online space, with competitors like Jet.com and traditional box stores struggling to stop the grip it has on the industry. With a surge in Amazon’s stock price, Mr. Bezos has also officially become the richest man in the world, surpassing Bill Gates, and ushering in the world of Amazon. Although we all know what Amazon is, from cloud computing, to logistics, and sales, what’s more interesting is what it’s about to become. Amazon is taking its baby steps into the real world, and through its acquisition of Whole Foods, may become the only company you’ll ever need.

Previously, Amazon has made steps in the grocer landscape by offering delivery of groceries with their Amazon Pantry service. They are now set on satisfying instant cravings by offering Amazon Now, a same day delivery service, with some cities boasting a same hour delivery service. Los Angeles being one of them, and although I haven’t myself taken that leap, however I have heard wonders from about the service. With Amazon's brick - and - mortar pop-up locations, you could buy the full range of products offered by Amazon, pick up your packages and get help from their staff on any range of product troubleshooting and general questions. They then introduced their concept Amazon Go, which resembles a mash-up of 7-Eleven and the job stealing robot future, where checkout is done through RFID chips, and there’s no more waiting in line for a cashier to check you out.

Step in Whole Foods. It boasts over 350 store locations in the United States, many with thriving communities buying to-go salads, or the occasional “health food” to supplement their regular day’s diet. All of these stores provide a perfect blueprint for Amazon to begin their invasion of the landmass of the United States. With the billions in value representing their stock, they could change the landscape of food as we know it. For instance, the Amazon wand, a new device for ordering all of your groceries by scanning barcodes, could see these stores as bases of operation closer to home than their warehouses (which are everywhere). Or we could see their legions of drones fill the skies dropping toilet paper, and laptops, on the consuming masses.

We could be going to a world where a dozen or so companies fulfill all of your needs, where leaving the home is only an occasional necessary evil. Amazon expects to be a large part of that. We will need to see where the future of retail and grocery land is going. It could perhaps unfold that so much concentrated selling power causes higher prices, or that maybe having cookies delivered straight to your hands in an instant isn’t the healthiest opportunity for those without impulse control! We shall see. Either way If you aren’t concerned, you should at least be curious, because the future is wilder and rapidly ever-changing than any of us could have imagined, and it’s just getting started.