Despite Amazon's large business from packaged food and other goods, it has yet to win significant market share in perishables, Jassy said. Rival grocers like Kroger Co (KR.N) and Walmart Inc (WMT.N) remain fearsome competition. Amazon has long viewed grocery as a key to unlock more consumer spending.

The remarks show how Amazon, which just a year ago said it would close its bookstores to focus on grocery, has yet to dominate brick-and-mortar retail since its closely watched acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017. What the company needs is a distinctive store format that's doing well financially before embarking on a major expansion, a formula Amazon hopes to find this year, he said. The company has paused expansion of its Fresh supermarkets and cashier-less convenience stores until it finds the right recipe for success, Chief Executive Andy Jassy said on Thursday, in a rare appearance on the company's quarterly results call. Feb 2 (Reuters) - Inc (AMZN.O), the online retailer long feared to disrupt the grocery sector, believes it has fallen short.

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