Amazon slashes grocery prices as Whole Foods deal closes

[William Gayde]

Looking to expand their foothold in the brick-and-mortar grocery store industry, Amazon purchased Whole Foods earlier this year for a whopping $13.7 billion. The deal closed today and Amazon isn't wasting any time implementing changes.

According to pricing data collected by Bloomberg from before and after the acquisition, many products around the store had their prices cut by double-digit percentages with some dropping by as much as 43 percent.

Not everything in the store was marked down though. It's clear that Amazon is picking and choosing the markets they want to compete in. The supermarket industry is valued at roughly $800 billion so there is plenty of room for Amazon to grow. Their largest current competitors are Walmart, Kroger and Costco.

Traditionally, Whole Foods (nicknamed "Whole Paycheck" by some) has been known for their high prices and boutique selections. These price drops show Amazon is serious about bringing the store into competition with the big players.

According to industry research, the largest barrier to Whole Foods' customers was price. Amazon believes that if they can invest in and subsidize certain categories, they can dominate the market and cause widespread change across the industry.

In addition to these price drops, Amazon has also began selling its Echo smart speaker at select Whole Foods stores with deep discounts. Traditionally retailing for $179.99, the Echo is available for just $99.99 with the Echo Dot commanding $44.99.

Lead photo credit - Seattle Times

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https://www.techspot.com/news/70751-amazon-slashes-grocery-prices-whole-foods-deal-closes.html

 

[Uncle Al]

Of course this battle doesn't include the hundreds and hundreds of new "Dollar General" stores that sell basic food stuffs and are not likely to go out of business because of the lack of crowds, zero dress code, and prices that are not really out of line with the local Krogar, Walmart, A&P or Winn Dixie in the area ..... plus a lot lower overhead!

 

[Evernessince]

Of course this battle doesn't include the hundreds and hundreds of new "Dollar General" stores that sell basic food stuffs and are not likely to go out of business because of the lack of crowds, zero dress code, and prices that are not really out of line with the local Krogar, Walmart, A&P or Winn Dixie in the area ..... plus a lot lower overhead!

Dollar General and Whole Foods target completely different markets. I've been in many dollar general stores and I would never touch any of their food. 95% of it is past it's "best by date". The stores are also dirty and disorganized. If I wanted garage sale quality goods, I would just go to a garage sale.

 

[Skidmarksdeluxe]

Bananas were a buck a pound??? Holy smoke!!! 70 cents sounds a bit more like it but still very expensive. We pay about 70c for 2 pounds but the prices do creep up during the winter months and plummet as soon as summer reintroduces itself.

 

[Neojt]

Have they gone bananas!

 

[mbrowne5061]

Bananas were a buck a pound??? Holy smoke!!! 70 cents sounds a bit more like it but still very expensive. We pay about 70c for 2 pounds but the prices do creep up during the winter months and plummet as soon as summer reintroduces itself.

Because they're "Organic", and so are grown in "organic" soil and given "organic" water with "organic" chemicals and fertilizers to help them grow.

They all come off the same trees. There is no unified definition of "organic" when it comes to food, because we've yet to grow any food in the lab. Maybe cross-bred a species or too, but we've been doing that for so long that none of our crops look (or taste) like their wild varieties anymore. Especially bananas, where all the ones you'll find in your super market are literally clones of one another - it is a budding monoculture, by our own careful selection for it to be that way.