29 June, 2017
The Whole Foods locations could lower Amazon's costs by reducing the need for refrigerated trucks to deliver grocery orders. The filing contained a transcript of a town hall meeting for Whole Foods employees.
Amazon has impacted more parts of the USA economy as it expands from books, toys and electronics into apparel, groceries and entertainment.
But a GeekWire analysis of existing Whole Foods stores and Amazon distribution locations shows that Amazon won't be dramatically expanding its geographic footprint into new areas of the country as a result of the deal. What the online retail behemoth is planning with the Whole Foods deal and its 460 brick and mortar locations throughout the US, Canada, and the United Kingdom is anyone's guess, but as Business Insider points out, this may be a pivotal step in the future of grocery shopping.
That was feeling of Taylor Malooly, 19, a University of Texas student at Whole Foods in Austin, who said a Whole Foods delivery service would have to be fast if he were to try it.
"We've seen Amazon expand recently into physical, brick-and-mortar stores, for example their new bookstores and Amazon Go, their small grocery store experiment that doesn't require a customer to go through check out", says Elizabeth Lim, senior analyst for Mergermarket. "We're gonna become as customer-centric as Amazon", he said. The top 10 grocery retailers plus Amazon control less than half of the market, Blackledge says, and a patchwork of several hundred grocery chains, convenience stores, dollars stores as well as mom and pop stores make up the remainder.
"Even if they did compete. you'd have to look at the presence of (other grocery chains)", said Abbott, who argued that many Whole Foods stores are in close proximity to other grocery stores, which means antitrust enforcers might be satisfied there was adequate competition. Yardeni notes that Amazon founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos has brought deflation to the book industry, mall retailers, and the cloud - giving Federal Reserve Chairman Janet Yellen something to think about, as Investor's Business Daily reported in May. Whole Foods has a corporate culture that prizes inclusive decision-making, such as allowing workers to vote on benefits every three years and disclosing executive pay. And we will be, I hope, as excited as I am today.
The tactics could help Amazon with branding, prices, and promotions. He praised Amazon's technology and long-term focus without indicating how they'll apply to Whole Foods. "That's a very important cultural value", he said. Whole Foods will keep its brand name, operating as a subsidiary of Amazon, and it's current CEO John Mackey will continue to lead its operations. Shoppers could pick up their purchases at a Whole Foods store near them the same way they're doing under the AmazonFresh Pickup program.
