Amazon.com Inc. spent its first day as the owner of a brick-and-mortar grocery chain cutting prices at Whole Foods Market as much as 43 percent.
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The tech giant's $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods has sent shock waves through the already changing $800 billion supermarket industry. The wedding between Amazon and the upscale grocery promises to upend the way customers shop for groceries. Cutting prices at the chain with such an entrenched reputation for high cost that its nickname is Whole Paycheck is a sign that Amazon is serious about taking on competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kroger Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp."Price was the largest barrier to Whole Foods' customers," said Mark Baum, a senior vice president at the Food Marketing Institute, an industry group. "Amazon has demonstrated that it is willing to invest to dominate the categories that it decides to compete in. Food retailers of all sizes need to look really hard at their pricing strategies, and maybe find some funding sources to build a war chest."
"Whole Paycheck" is now "Half Paycheck."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:01AM
So the price on generic canned beans was dropped 43%, while all other prices stayed the same and/or were increased.
The headline would still be completely accurate, albeit just as misleading.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:09AM (1 child)
Only high volume items will get significant price cuts.
Costco, ALDI, and Walmart are still better places to shop.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @01:38PM
Our local Aldi seems to consistently have the best avocados.
We are ~3000 mi (5000Km) from California and historically I've often felt that the Californians have been keeping all the good avocados for themselves. Years ago it was so bad that I quit buying them locally and only had avocados when I was working in California.
Therefore, Aldi must have somehow broken through the barrier and worked out how to export good ones to the rest of the country.
A Whole Foods is just about to open nearby, I'll be checking, maybe they have also figured out how to get good ones out of California.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by ledow on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:21AM (5 children)
"We cut all the profits out so we can steal all the other people's business, then when we have them ordering regularly and they've forgotten about those other places, we'll raise the prices slowly".
It's a pretty obvious tactic, and the percentages on the particular things they cut just seem to point to "let's do zero percent profit for a while to capture market". Anyone can operate at zero profit if they want, especially if they're large enough. It's just not necessarily the best thing for the consumer in the long-term.
I'm not sure where they would stand on anti-competition manoeuvres, but I'd guess it'd raise some eyebrows but they could change at any time if someone bothered to complain.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:45AM
It's a race to the bottom - which ever company has th deepest pockets/cash reserves wins, as they can hold out making no (losing) money the longest.
If the suppliers are on 90 day (or longer, poor buggers) accounts, and the cash registers are ringing, then, even at the reduced income, they company will still be meeting its loan repayments..
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @08:43AM (1 child)
Actually they will probably not do a zero profit. Instead they will cut down just enough goods to get people hooked, but still make some profit at the other goods.
For example, imagine they sell apples, bananas and cherries. Then they can lower the apple and banana prices to zero-profit, while keeping the cherry prices. People will go there for apples and bananas, but will also buy the cherries there, since after all, they are already at that shop. Indeed, they might even increase their profit if the sales of non-lowered goods go sufficiently up if enough people coming for the lowered goods will also buy some non-lowered goods which otherwise they would have bought elsewhere.
(Score: 2, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @01:01PM
wow. you just invented a "loss leader"
(Score: 2) by TheRaven on Wednesday August 30 2017, @12:37PM (1 child)
sudo mod me up
(Score: 1) by AssCork on Wednesday August 30 2017, @06:14PM
Illegal? Where? The US?
You misunderstand, this is a corporation, unless you can cite a law that applies to them, I'm afraid you've been mislead a bit.
Now, let's talk about taxes, walls, and ceilings...
Just popped-out of a tight spot. Came out mostly clean, too.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @07:51AM (2 children)
Any chance of bringing back the asparagus water?
With the new price cut, that would go from $6 to $3, making it such a bargain. A bottle of water with 3 asparagus stalks could be had for just $3. Think of it!
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @02:36PM
Only $3 and the side effect of funky piss? Shut up and take my money!
(Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday August 31 2017, @06:54PM
Fantastic idea! 🇺🇸
(Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @08:58AM (2 children)
So what are the prices of fractional foods?
I for one want complex foods. Preferably with rational real part and transcendental imaginary part.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @01:41PM
Fractional foods are cheap. They are the ones that come from a factory, with a list of ingredients as long as your arm...and the shelf life of Methuselah.
(Score: 3, Touché) by Grishnakh on Wednesday August 30 2017, @02:44PM
Well you can get the "transcendental imaginary part" over in the homeopathy aisle that every Whole Foods has.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by opinionated_science on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:14AM (2 children)
values have no meaning without knowing the distribution they are drawn from....
So either quote mean and variance, or show a plot of prices cuts indicating the maximum was "upto 43%".
This is how we got to "unlimited" meaning "up to our marketing dept".
Innumeracy is as bad as Illiteracy and politicians know this. They can lie with words, than confuse you with numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @02:59PM
> So either quote mean and variance, or show a plot of prices cuts indicating the maximum was "upto 43%".
Still more accurate than the usual "up to x% and more"...
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:43PM
To be fair, they also confuse themselves with the same numbers.
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:17AM (1 child)
They'll just cut hours: employees don't matter.
--- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @01:05PM
Funny how the slaves don't ask for more pay; they ask for more hours.
"Work me longer, massa!"
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @02:34PM (3 children)
I'm smiling, not because prices are lower at Whole Foods (I've hardly ever shopped there), but because progressive elites, and progressive elite wannabes, will now have to share their precious Whole Foods with the hoi polloi they secretly hate. High prices kept out the riffraff. Not any more.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 30 2017, @04:46PM
Bovine Viral Diarrhoea outbreak wipes out the value of ButtCoin! News at 9!
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by takyon on Wednesday August 30 2017, @05:07PM (1 child)
Amazon can't really bring Whole Foods prices down to Aldi prices. They have lowered the prices of some items from 30-40%, but most have gotten a smaller decrease or aren't mentioned by Bloomberg. Poor people aren't going to come in to Whole Foods just because Fuji apples are at $1.99.
Potentially, the Amazon connection and price decreases will bring in a more trashy class of sub-elite Amazon Prime users. Or maybe they will stay home and order online.
Side note: Where to rank Trader Joe's on the trash-elite scale?
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 30 2017, @10:27PM
> Where to rank Trader Joe's on the trash-elite scale?
I'm sure I bring ours down toward trash every time -- old clothes, pony tail, untrimmed beard, shoes falling apart, the sad old hippie look. Looks can be deceiving...