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Amazon buys Whole Foods

Anna N

By Anna N
in Food Traditions & Culture

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

Posted
Posted (edited)

The adventure continues...I realized tonight that I may not have had flour for tomorrow's bread.  And, if asked, I was sick of chicken.  Prime Now to the rescue!  Branzini, and some bok choy for a stir fry!  Well for once Whole Foods got back to me about items out of stock.  But I was not looking at the screen because by now I was well conditioned they would not.

 

I paid almost a 100 percent delivery tip:  two pound bag of flour, two apples, and two organic avocados (on sale).  Dinner is chicken.

 

 

Edit:  and I'm still almost out of milk.

 

Edited by JoNorvelleWalker (log)
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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Toliver

Toliver

Posted
Posted

Well, that didn't last long:

 

"Amazon Slashed Prices at Whole Foods. Now They’re Climbing Back Up."

Quote

Whole Foods is raising prices again.

Amazon.com Inc. AMZN +2.72% slashed prices at Whole Foods after acquiring the natural grocer in 2017, aiming to counter its reputation for high costs. Now, pressure from consumer-product makers to cover rising costs for packaging, ingredients and transportation has led Whole Foods to raise prices on hundreds of products, according to internal communications viewed by The Wall Street Journal.

 

Welcome back to "Whole Paycheck". :hmmm:

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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1 hour ago, Toliver said:

Well, that didn't last long:

 

"Amazon Slashed Prices at Whole Foods. Now They’re Climbing Back Up."

 

Welcome back to "Whole Paycheck". :hmmm:

 

And your WSJ quote showed AMZN +2.72%.

 

I'm sitting here snowed in and contemplating a Prime Now order...just to check if Whole Foods is open.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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Not only was Whole Foods open -- they filled my Prime Now order perfectly and got it here on time in perfectly miserable weather.  Everything I ordered was in stock.  They are getting better.  Pecker or no Pecker.

 

If the weather ever clears enough for me to get to work I'll check out that WSJ article.  And for what it's worth Boursin was $1.00 less expensive than from Shoprite.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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rotuts

rotuts

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I think its going to be a while before AMZN/WF makes its own way.

 

margins are so thin I recall reading in food markets

 

and BTW

 

A.thumb.jpg.459e3d1c1a13872a0586039c39f72370.jpg

 

that's one year.  but of lot of the tail might be due to The Donald.

 

Im glad  @JoNorvelleWalker

 

your orders are working and getting better.

 

remember , I pretty much own the company !

 

Unknown-1.jpeg.ac235d5fa5e9adef63268a095a0f963b.jpeg

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chefmd

chefmd

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WF has Parmesan on sale for 13.99.  Plus an extra 10% off for Prime members.  Plus they had fiver other cheeses to taste.  Plus who can resist a trip to grocery store?  Not me apparently.

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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9 minutes ago, chefmd said:

WF has Parmesan on sale for 13.99.  Plus an extra 10% off for Prime members.  Plus they had fiver other cheeses to taste.  Plus who can resist a trip to grocery store?  Not me apparently.

 

Check out their Beef Round Eye Round Steak.

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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Toliver

Toliver

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Posted

So now I'm confused...:wacko:

"Amazon to open all-new grocery stores separate from Whole Foods"

Quote

According to a report by The Wall Street Journal, Amazon plans to open dozens of new grocery stores that will be distinctly different from the company's Whole Foods Market stores. The retail giant has reportedly already signed leases for some locations and plans to open the new grocery stores in cities across the country, including San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Washington DC.

So Amazon is going to compete with itself/Whole Foods?

The article mentions that the new stores will be smaller, may be cashless and will likely be able to sell stuff they can't sell at Whole Foods.

This is so...odd.

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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teonzo

teonzo

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Doesn't seem odd to me. Whole Foods stores have a distinct image about their products, if they add stuff that's out of that image then the whole brand looses a lot of the value it built up until now.

There's a big potential market for food stuff that's not top price like Whole Foods: people with standard jobs whose paycheck does not allow for top class food and who have troubles finding time to go to a grocery store during the day. If you work as a nurse, a clerk or whatever and have children, then you don't have the financial resources to afford for prime ribs or wild blueberries, plus you would be more than happy to save time going shopping (this would mean more time for children). A lot of these people would be more than happy to buy food on Amazon for cheap price and getting it delivered conveniently (on their job place, at home or else). They would save time and money, and they are not the demographic for buying Whole Foods' stuff.

 

To me it seems like the Whole Foods acquisition was the first step for fresh food distribution: Amazon was testing how to manage it and what are the best methods to organize such a business, since it's totally different logistic wise. Being fresh stuff you need localized storage places (stores) with a highly efficient organization (minimizing wastes is the biggest problem). Now they have enough data to know how to maximize their revenues, so they are making the first moves to get ahold of this huge potential market.

 

 

 

Teo

 

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Teo

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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Posted
1 hour ago, Toliver said:

So now I'm confused...:wacko:

"Amazon to open all-new grocery stores separate from Whole Foods"

So Amazon is going to compete with itself/Whole Foods?

The article mentions that the new stores will be smaller, may be cashless and will likely be able to sell stuff they can't sell at Whole Foods.

This is so...odd.

 

I read the article this afternoon at work.  What I remember was a bit different:  there will be the new stores with different stuff, as well as an expansion of the smaller amazon go stores which are cashless.

 

Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

Whatever you crave, there's a dumpling for you. -- Hsiao-Ching Chou

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rotuts

rotuts

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once Amazon has its own " Food Supply  ' channel(s) , 

 

they can dribble some stuff Here and some stuff There w little additional cost.

 

Its my understanding that Food Supply has a razor thin profit margin.

 

so it makes sense to use that to its Max.

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teonzo

teonzo

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5 hours ago, rotuts said:

Its my understanding that Food Supply has a razor thin profit margin.

 

I'm pretty sure Amazon will make much more profits from related implications than from the direct food sales.

Food is the only thing that a person needs to survive. Food habits can say a lot of things about a person's preferences. Amazon bases a lot of their sales on targeted marketing, suggesting people what to buy after analyzing their previous orders and searches. Their current database is worth billions only for this. If they add food choices to their database, then they can exploit latent needs much more efficiently. I'd dare to say that their database value would more than double after adding data on fresh food habits. If they break even considering only the food profit sales, then it would not be a problem, absolutely, they would hugely increase their profits on the other sectors.

There are other profit sources too. Suppose you own an insurance company and are evaluating the health insurance costs for a 30 year old person. Having access to his/her medical history gives some infos but not everything. Having access to his/her eating habits would give you a much more detailed perspective on his/her probabilities of having health troubles in the following years.

 

 

 

Teo

 

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Teo

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BeeZee

BeeZee

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I find that the deals for Prime members are pretty good. I was never a regular WF shopper to be able to judge overall price trends, however. For the odds and ends that I do buy there, I find the day to day pricing to be competitive vs my usual supermarket. The exception to that is when Shop Rite has a big sale, they will go lower than WF ever does.

"Only dull people are brilliant at breakfast" - Oscar Wilde

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Toliver

Toliver

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On 3/2/2019 at 6:09 AM, rotuts said:

I think they lowered the prices on a few items

 

but its my understanding that they are back up !

Yes, the article confirming this was posted up above here (click).

 

“Peter: Oh my god, Brian, there's a message in my Alphabits. It says, 'Oooooo.'

Brian: Peter, those are Cheerios.”

– From Fox TV’s “Family Guy”

 

Tim Oliver

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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Posted

Today the organic asparagus was back in stock and is now in my refrigerator.  But Whole Foods sent cheaper previously frozen king salmon, not the fresh king salmon I had ordered.  This time I did not request a refund since the error was less egregious than sending me the beef round.  Never send me beef round.

 

The system still has a ways to go but I remain perpetually surprised it works as well as it does.

 

 

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JoNorvelleWalker

JoNorvelleWalker

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Not a good experience tonight:  the* cheese was moldy and not in a nice way.  They can't tell the difference between broccoli and broccolini.

 

More troubling the delivery time slots seem to be reduced.  Yesterday I was unable to get delivery.  Today I had to pay extra to get any delivery at all.  I called to enquire about this and spent a half an hour on the phone.

 

Plus, I received two bunches of asparagus.  Totally my fault but an error I would hardly have made shopping at the store in person.  Oh, and before I forget the driver couldn't find my home.  Not an uncommon problem and I don't hold that against amazon.

 

 

*expensive

 

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Cooking is cool.  And kitchen gear is even cooler.  -- Chad Ward

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rotuts

rotuts

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WSJ had a few articles about the troubles Amazon is having w WF

 

I didn't ref. then ,as I think WSj is a pay site.  I subscribe to the paper so can't test this out

 

and now there are lots of articles here and there that Amazon is reducing prices at WF

 

you might google either idea and find something of interest.

 

after the BrewHaHa whited down p the acquisition 

 

several more in-depth articles quoting Seasoned Food Providers  ( S&P ? ) and economists 

 

who study this sector

 

mentioned razor thin margins , completely different and far more expensive distribution system for Food vs Books

 

and were skeptical that Amazon was going to have any true major impact on Grocery systems.

 

non the less , I own AMZN  , personally , with < 10 shares

 

that for the FullDisclosure Agreement.

 

I still wont go into any of the WF stores .   Personal Allergies  etc to the business model.

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lemniscate

lemniscate

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12 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

More troubling the delivery time slots seem to be reduced.  Yesterday I was unable to get delivery.  Today I had to pay extra to get any delivery at all.  I called to enquire about this and spent a half an hour on the phone.

 

I had heard there was some type of Company-wide inventory action going on since Sunday and all store personnel were pulled in to deal with that and it caused great upheaval in getting pickup and delivery orders put together and out the door and other normal store functions.  

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eugenep

eugenep

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1 hour ago, rotuts said:

WSJ had a few articles about the troubles Amazon is having w WF

 

I didn't ref. then ,as I think WSj is a pay site.  I subscribe to the paper so can't test this out

 

and now there are lots of articles here and there that Amazon is reducing prices at WF

 

you might google either idea and find something of interest.

 

after the BrewHaHa whited down p the acquisition 

 

several more in-depth articles quoting Seasoned Food Providers  ( S&P ? ) and economists 

 

who study this sector

 

mentioned razor thin margins , completely different and far more expensive distribution system for Food vs Books

 

and were skeptical that Amazon was going to have any true major impact on Grocery systems.

 

non the less , I own AMZN  , personally , with < 10 shares

 

that for the FullDisclosure Agreement.

 

I still wont go into any of the WF stores .   Personal Allergies  etc to the business model.

I read that WSJ article too and I'm hoping to check it out this weekend. 

 

Sometimes, their prices on some pricey goods are actually very competitive and lower than others: Kirshwasser, KBS (beer), vanilla, dry age steak, etc. And they do have a broader selection for high quality goods I can't find in the standard supermarket - Red Boat fish sauce, real balsamic vinegar 10+ years etc 

 

I end up going to both Whole Foods and Shoprite in NJ (low prices, rude services, less than fresh items but better selection and prices for packaged goods) 

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