SILICON VALLEY – Numerous reports this week hint at a new development on the horizon for Amazon: drive-thru grocer. According to reports, the company is testing the concept in tech-friendly Silicon Valley, starting with a drive-up store concept that would allow shoppers to order grocery items online and then schedule a pickup at a dedicated facility.

If it comes to fruition, the project would not only showcase a new distribution strategy for Amazon, but would also put the retailer in the grocery channel in a big way. Amazon, however, hasn’t commented on reports or speculation related to the drive-up grocery store concept.

"We are seeing the emergence of the next generation of the food distribution system," Bill Bishop, chief architect at Brick Meets Click and chair of the NACS/Coca-Cola Retailing Research Council, told CNBC.

In the grocery aisle, there’s a lot of room for e-commerce disruption, although the tech industry has so far had little success in getting shoppers online for their grocery orders. While more than half of global consumers polled by Nielsen said they were willing to buy groceries online, online grocery sales in the U.S. only capture about 1% of total spending.