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Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25 Percent Jump In Shoppers (bloomberg.com)

According to Foursquare Labs, which compiled location information from shoppers' mobile devices during the first two days after Amazon completed its acquisition of Whole Foods and compared the data with the same period a week earlier, the electronic commerce company boosted customer traffic to Whole Foods by 25 percent. Bloomberg reports: Amazon acquired the upscale chain last month for $13.7 billion, a move that has brought turmoil to the supermarket industry and sent shares of grocery rivals tumbling. The same day it completed the acquisition, the e-commerce giant cut prices by as much as 43 percent on a range of items. Organic fuji apples were marked down to $1.99 a pound from $3.49 a pound, for instance. Organic avocados dropped to $1.99 each from $2.79. The traffic data is an optimistic sign that Amazon can succeed in the brick-and-mortar world. In some areas, the jump in customers was dramatic. At stores in Chicago, 35 percent more shoppers visited Whole Foods stores, Foursquare found. It's not surprising that curious shoppers visited the stores immediately after the takeover, particularly after a bevy of media coverage, according to Jennifer Bartashus, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. What's left to be seen is whether they will start consistently shopping more at Whole Foods stores.

94 comments

  1. Avocados by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Come to S. Florida. There's avocado trees everywhere and they're free.

    And these are the big ones. Not the little Mexican things you get at chain supermarkets.

    1. Re:Avocados by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Come to S. Florida. There's avocado trees everywhere

      Don't forget to bring your snorkel.

    2. Re:Avocados by Headw1nd · · Score: 3, Funny

      There's avocado trees everywhere

      Well, now there are.

    3. Re: Avocados by reanjr · · Score: 1

      First of all, those are Dominican avocados, not Florida avocados. Secondly, hass ("Mexican") avocados are healthier than the deficient "Florida" variety. And thirdly, so-called "Florida" avocados are a culinary disaster. I'm really sorry you live in avocado ignorance and that ignorance is too great for you to know what a good avocado is supposed to taste like.

    4. Re:Avocados by drinkypoo · · Score: 1

      Come to S. Florida. There's avocado trees everywhere

      Don't forget to bring your snorkel.

      You'll need a dredge if you plan to harvest avocados in this season.

      --
      "You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
    5. Re: Avocados by ncc74656 · · Score: 1

      I'm really sorry you live in avocado ignorance and that ignorance is too great for you to know what a good avocado is supposed to taste like.

      They all taste like ass. :-P

      --
      20 January 2017: the End of an Error.
  2. Stop writing backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    "Organic fuji apples were marked down to $1.99 a pound from $3.49 a pound, for instance."

    No.

    Organic fuji apples were marked down from $3.49 to $1.99 a pound, for instance.

    FTFY

    1. Re:Stop writing backwards by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      I'd have probably gone for:

      For instance, Organic fuji apples were marked down from $3.49 to $1.99 a pound.

      Point stands, the english was a tad awkward. Not entirely unlike using the term "x time less than" instead of specifying a fraction, when the latter was simple and concise.

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    2. Re:Stop writing backwards by thegreatbob · · Score: 1

      Also, you should be submitting that to the article writer, not Slashdot...

      --
      There is no XUL, only WebExtensions...
    3. Re:Stop writing backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Okay then. Fuck you, Bloomberg.

    4. Re:Stop writing backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's "per pound", not "a pound".

    5. Re:Stop writing backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      How about using the good old percentage?

      Organic fuji apples dropped to 57% of previous value.

      I mean. Last time I checked percentage is extremely well suited to discount description.

    6. Re:Stop writing backwards by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Insightful

      No. How is that better?

    7. Re:Stop writing backwards by alex67500 · · Score: 1

      A tech giant takes over a grocery store, and we bicker about semantics. I love Slashdot <3

  3. Was whole foods right? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, they cut prices by "as much as 43%", presumably cutting profit by a larger percentage (if cost of goods sold is fixed). And they increased "shoppers" by 25%, whatever that means and what it means for sales.

    It sounds like the price cuts have only reduced the bottom lime. And though there's not enough info may have haven decreased the top line while increasing COGS. wtg Amazon.

    1. Re:Was whole foods right? by Kierthos · · Score: 2

      More likely, it's "Here's this list of items we're cutting prices on. The most we're cutting any single item's price by is 43%. Most everything else is getting a small price reduction. Let's lead with the 43%."

      --
      Mr. Hu is not a ninja.
    2. Re:Was whole foods right? by tomhath · · Score: 1

      It's worse than that.

      People shopped at Whole Foods because they wanted extra hoidy-toidy $3.49 organic apples. If Amazon is selling plain apples that any common person can afford there's no reason to shop there anymore.

    3. Re:Was whole foods right? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      People shopped at Whole Foods because they wanted organic apples.

      FTFY?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:Was whole foods right? by danbert8 · · Score: 1

      Reduced prices*

      *only on the limes at the bottom

      --
      Yes it's an anecdote! Were you expecting original research in a Slashdot comment?
    5. Re:Was whole foods right? by jedidiah · · Score: 1

      > People shopped at Whole Foods because they wanted organic apples.

      You never needed to go to Whole Foods for organic apples.

      --
      A Pirate and a Puritan look the same on a balance sheet.
    6. Re:Was whole foods right? by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      The point being, doesn't Whole Foods have more organic/etc stuff than regular grocery stores?

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    7. Re:Was whole foods right? by tomhath · · Score: 2

      More stuff that's labelled as "organic"? Probably, although the grocery stores around me have a pretty good selection. But the real point is that shopping at Whole Foods is like buying designer label clothes.

    8. Re:Was whole foods right? by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

      You did if you wanted varieties the average grocery store didn't carry. Whole foods has a LOT of produce that you can't generally get at the typical grocery. It's also higher quality. You don't see bins of peppers where the produce manager has left the rotting peppers in the bin with the good ones in the hope that someone will buy them.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
    9. Re:Was whole foods right? by Obfiscator · · Score: 1

      I would say it depends. There are some items at Wholes Foods that I can't find elsewhere. So I'll buy those there.

      If you're doing your basic shopping at Whole Foods, well, you may be paying too much. I don't shop there often enough to have done thorough comparisons on product/price.

      --
      "Nothing shocks me. I'm a scientist." -Indiana Jones
  4. The Amazon mantra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    We're losing money, but we'll make it up in volume.

    1. Re:The Amazon mantra by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 4, Funny

      They have a trick: their volume goes to 11.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    2. Re:The Amazon mantra by RavenLrD20k · · Score: 1

      or, in your case, playing pinball: A video to help you.

    3. Re:The Amazon mantra by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1

      There's no such thing as "12".

      It goes 1, 10, 11, 100, 101, 110, 111, 1000, etc.

      --
      #DeleteFacebook
    4. Re:The Amazon mantra by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      we're talking non binary, you insensitive clod!

    5. Re:The Amazon mantra by Ann+O'Nymous-Coward · · Score: 1

      It's ALL ones and zeroes, you innumerate clod.

    6. Re:The Amazon mantra by DontBeAMoran · · Score: 1
      --
      #DeleteFacebook
  5. Featured prominently online, too by rmdingler · · Score: 1
    I'm an occasional Prime Pantry shopper, and noticed a big push for Whole Food products at the brickless, mortarless, site...

    The success of such marketing would undoubtedly shrink expenses and allow lower pricing to achieve the same margins... at least until dominant market share is achieved.

    --
    Happiness in intelligent people is the rarest thing I know.

    Ernest Hemingway

  6. Curious Shoppers? by link-error · · Score: 4, Insightful

    How many of those people were just checking out what actually changed prices? Let me know those numbers again in a few months, then I'll be impressed.

    --
    -Unresolved symbol? Byte me!
    1. Re:Curious Shoppers? by Joviex · · Score: 1

      How many of those people were just checking out what actually changed prices? Let me know those numbers again in a few months, then I'll be impressed.

      Exactly this. We litearally live between 3 whole foods here in LA. We stopped shopping at them about a year after trying them.

      The prices were obnoxious. Now, they want to make the prices "normal". Ok, what other attraction is there for me to go there then?

      The only thing they seemingly marked down is produce, which I can get at a local bodega, to support my local community, or even at a box store when I get all the other things I NEED, rather than the WholeFoods branded Yuppie shit.

      25% uptick is most likely just that: People curious.

    2. Re: Curious Shoppers? by Mr+D+from+63 · · Score: 1

      An increase in foot traffic ccan very well be just an influx of the curious. They could have talked about an actual increase is average sales quantities, but didn't.

    3. Re:Curious Shoppers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a small market and I know it, but as a person with a lot of food allergies, the primary one being soy, its nice to be able to buy yuppie food. It usually has much shorter ingredient lists which in turn mean a much higher chance I can actually eat it. EX: crackers with water, salt, wheat flour, canola oil. I can eat that. Walmart crackers with water, salt, soybean oil, canola oil, random other oil, soy lecithin, several preservatives, crap ive never heard of, blah blah. Can't eat it.

    4. Re:Curious Shoppers? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yeah, not just that - it'll take months at least, possibly a year or more, before Amazon can tell whether the business is actually profitable at its new price point.

  7. Kiva Systems by Idou · · Score: 4, Informative

    Now Amazon Robotics, was founded by former Webvan employees. Webvan failed because it could not get food to customers before it rotted. The plan was to build miles and miles of conveyor belts. The founders of Kiva Systems learned from those mistakes and built a better way.

    Amazon's move to buy Whole Foods means the technology is now mature enough to lay waste to established grocery market players. Think this is an exaggeration? Make sure you check out some Kiva robots in action before coming to that conclusion.

    --
    Sdelat' Ameriku velikoy Snova!
    1. Re:Kiva Systems by Togden · · Score: 1

      The plan was to build miles and miles of conveyor belts.

      You mean like in factorio

    2. Re:Kiva Systems by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I believe amazon is building a beltless base, considering they have their own custom designed logistic bots they should post pictures of their roboports.

  8. only organic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Organic fuji apples were marked down to $1.99 a pound from $3.49 a pound, for instance.

    What about the inorganic apples?

    1. Re:only organic? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you get those here they aren't very nutritious though.

  9. Wrong business model by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Charge more! Much more! Then you only need to a few apples to stay profitable and think of the cachet for those buyers. "Oh yeah, that's my $1,000,000 apple. Have a bite."

  10. WHOLE PAYCHECK more expensive than by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    streetcorner produce stands infront of the verry fields they grew from.

    FARMER"S MARKUP more expensive than WHOLE PAYCHECK sometimes. The benefit of union grocers was supposed to be for savings to customers by mass purchase but all I ever saw were shelved products not an expansive cheap produce. Where are the price fixxing and monopoly anti-trust whistlers?

    BEAM. ME. UP! (rip Trafficant).

    1. Re: WHOLE PAYCHECK more expensive than by Type44Q · · Score: 1

      streetcorner produce stands infront of the verry fields they grew fromComplete your sentences much?

  11. That is not what was said or what they are doing by SuperKendall · · Score: 1

    How from the summary did you get they switched apples? It said pretty plainly they are still the organic apples, just reduced in price... it's not like Whole Foods has switched to selling non-organic apples (which would be plastic and rebar, presumably).

    --
    "There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
  12. Probably won't last by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    "curiosity" shoppers most likely. I'd prefer to wait a couple months to see if it lasts.

    1. Re:Probably won't last by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      There's definitely a different kind of breed of shoppers at WF now. There's one in my neighborhood and I went there for the first time since the Amazon takeover. It looks now like how grocery stores looked in the soviet union: shelves picked nearly bare. They ran out of bread at 4:00 in the afternoon. The people there now are way more aggressive and seem to have the compulsive need to bring ALL of their children with them on their shopping trip. Lower priced groceries bring in lower priced people, I guess ...

  13. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How from the summary did you get they switched apples? It said pretty plainly they are still the organic apples, just reduced in price... it's not like Whole Foods has switched to selling non-organic apples (which would be plastic and rebar, presumably).

    Not plastic.

    Plastic is organic.

  14. Then get another job by p51d007 · · Score: 1

    No one forces you to work for ANYONE. I know several VERY WELL OFF people, that from their teens through mid 50's, worked for "Walmart". Didn't make much working there, but RETIRED very well off in their mid 50's. Sometimes, you work for little, but make it up on the back end. That is, if you are smart and invest properly.

    1. Re:Then get another job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      This post makes no sense at all.

    2. Re:Then get another job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Walmart doesn't pay enough. The smart investment scheme to retire comfortably from Walmart must involve winning the lottery or a similarly unlikely stroke of luck.

    3. Re:Then get another job by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Chances are, they started off retail, made their way into management, then transferred into corporate instead of staying a cashier for 30 years.

  15. The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by cdreimer · · Score: 1

    I went over to Whole Foods to check out not the prices (which haven't changed that much) but the Amazon Echo/Dot display. I heard a rumor that Amazon took their entire inventory offline to stock Whole Food stores with towering pyramids of Echos and Dots for shoppers to worship Alexa. Not at my local store. They had a small table tucked off to the side of the entrance. I then went over to the Amazon Bookstore and their Echo/Dot display was even smaller. So much for a flagship product.

    1. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Right, because why would you go to Whole Foods - you don't eat anything they'd sell there, with their emphasis on healthy natural foods.

      Processed garbage all the way, that's our creimer!

    2. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Organic foods are not more healthy than non-organic. It is a big scam for idiots like you.

    3. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      you sound hot, butter tits

    4. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by cdreimer · · Score: 1

      Right, because why would you go to Whole Foods - you don't eat anything they'd sell there, with their emphasis on healthy natural foods.

      Tofu, raw milk cheese and amber ale.

    5. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      But with your 1500 calories a day, that would mean a cubic inch of tofu, half an ounce of cheese and an espresso cup of ale, right?

      And with the phytoestrogens from the tofu, your moobs will get much bigger.

    6. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Thank you for posting a link to cdreimer.com. We were wondering where the extra 40+ clicks per day from Slashdot was coming from. Keep up the good job!
      - cdreimer.com webmaster

    7. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Organic foods are not more healthy than non-organic. It is a big scam for idiots like you.

      Hey keyboard warrior, where exactly did I say "organic food"? I said, "healthy natural foods" - as opposed to the processed bullshit that creimer eats on the daily.

      It doesn't matter whether or not it's organic, but it does matter whether or not you're mainlining fat and sugar by the pound in the form of Starbucks and Powerbars.

    8. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Strider- · · Score: 1

      Tofu, raw milk cheese and amber ale.

      I tried going to my local cheese shop, but they were sold out of everything.... and that damned bouzouki player...

      --
      ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    9. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Strider- · · Score: 1

      Organic foods are not more healthy than non-organic. It is a big scam for idiots like you.

      Sure, but along with organic (which I don't really care about) comes more varieties. Things like your "heirloom" tomatoes or apples. Are they any better from a nutrition standpoint? unlikely. But they have different flavours, different textures, and can be much more visually interesting. IMHO it's also good to support the biodiversity that keeping these old/small varieties around.

      It's a similar thing when it comes to cheeses and other dairy products. While I don't really care that it's "Organic" by the official definition of the word, it's more that organic cheeses tend to be more interesting, unpasteurized (which has a significant impact on some cheeses), and so forth compared to the standard variety. It's a similar thing when it comes to whipping cream. Standard cream contains various stabilizers to help it whip consistently, but at the expense of texture. The organic stuff I buy has more milkfat, none of the stabilizers, and produces what I consider a nicer result.

      Lastly, in the case of animal products (Dairy, Poultry/eggs, and meat), it's pretty typical that the "Organic" choices are also the more ethical choices, where the animal had a better life.

      So yeah, I'll buy a reasonable amount of organic food, but not because it's organic, but because of the other properties that are correlated to it.

      --
      ...si hoc legere nimium eruditionis habes...
    10. Re:The Amazon Echo/Dot display was meh... by Gojira+Shipi-Taro · · Score: 1

      It's rather runny sir.

      --
      "Oh my God. This is terrible. This is the end of my Presidency. I'm fucked."; ~ Donald J. Trump
  16. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1

    How about single piece aluminum chassis apples?

  17. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    What is "organic food" anyway?

    As in, how is the term legally defined?

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  18. in store wifi sucks by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Whole Foods wifi sucks. It's censored and I'm convinced the porn filter keeps DNS logs. I should be able to watch granola girl porn in the Whole Foods if I want to.

    Lucky for me there are condos above the store and everybody has xfinitywifi. Thank you Comcast.

  19. We like Whole Foods *because* of the prices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    The higher prices keep out the EBT "Raider Nation" and Red-Man monster truck demographics. There's no mumu-wearing land-manatees on mobility scooters blocking the aisles.

    1. Re:We like Whole Foods *because* of the prices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Sorry to disappoint, pal, but I shop at Whole Foods and I look like Richard Stallman on crack. I'm not really homeless; I just look like I'm homeless. You see, I'd rather spend money on food than spend money on clothes.

    2. Re: We like Whole Foods *because* of the prices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Is that the same logic wirb Amazon shoppers? You shop at Amazon because their prices are the highest and it helps to keep out the riff raff?

    3. Re: We like Whole Foods *because* of the prices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Old ugly fat chicks shop Amazon, naked.

    4. Re:We like Whole Foods *because* of the prices by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I shop at the Whole Foods where Stallman shops. Or would shop, if he could bear that much human contact. He also used to live in my old office at Tech Square (*after* our group moved). And, unfortunately, I had the displeasure of walking in on him taking one of his sponge baths in the washroom facilities. Ick. Too much RMS.

      Also, I have seen people use EBT at the same WF. Yuppies next to welfare mothers. Oh the unending joys of living in Cambridge!

  20. Organic apples and avocados by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I'm not sure about these. How do these compare to the artificial, plastic apples and avocados?

  21. Correlation vs. Causation by Art+Challenor · · Score: 1

    It's clear that lower prices bring more shoppers, but then so does hyping a brand all over the media. Assuming that the 25% increase is correct (I didn't RTFA) attributing that exclusively to lower prices is probably unsupported by the evidence.

  22. I would - they used to be *stupidly* expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    WF are great, but they were just *stupidly* expensive, so much so I couldn't justify how much they cost.

    If they bring their prices down, I'll be there normally.

  23. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by CannonballHead · · Score: 1

    By the USDA?

  24. Lemmings by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sheeple, stooges, marks, etc...

  25. TIL by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    foursquare still exists...

    what.the.fuck. ::MiNd bLoWn::

  26. But the prices aren't low by fluffernutter · · Score: 1

    I recently read an article in which they picked five common household items and checked Whole Food's prices against five local stores; only one of the local grocery chains came to a higher total. So in other words there is no price war happening.

    --
    Laws are rules for the court, but merely a bottom bar to hit for life. Think beyond laws in your actions always.
  27. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by CanHasDIY · · Score: 1

    That would be WHO, but not HOW.

    --
    An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
  28. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by pnutjam · · Score: 1

    To many people, if the price is lower it isn't the same.

  29. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by HornWumpus · · Score: 1

    Obviously food that contains carbon.

    --
    John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
  30. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    It's based on what pesticides and fertilizers you use on the crops.

  31. step function by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Inputting a step function results in output ringing. Wait until the ringing settles down.

  32. Tracking by hackel · · Score: 1

    So Foursquare doesn't even try to hide the fact that they record their users' every move? This is a really disturbing precedent. Why would anyone allow them to do that? Is Foursquare paying them for this valuable marketing data? This is just insanity to me.

  33. I want to shop at Whole Foods, by pecosdave · · Score: 1

    But the closest one is in CtPaTown. Unfortunately I live in SoDoSoPa. I would have to drive 30 miles to get to CtPaTown and it's just not worth it.

    --
    The preceding post was not a Slashvertisement.
  34. Please stop posting "hidden" advertisement on sdot by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I think it's obvious... oh yeah they are selling groceries, oh yeah they did get 25% more shoppers in 2 days using aggressive price policies? Good for them, but how is this news for nerds? How!?

  35. Re:That is not what was said or what they are doin by Altrag · · Score: 1

    They have a list of criteria. If you meet all of the criteria (and I'm sure pay some "small" administrative and logo licensing fees) then you get certified.

    There's been occasional blowback because their criteria doesn't always match the intuitive sense of the word "organic" that has built up in the public conscience over the past couple of decades, particularly with respect to the list of allowed pesticides and other chemicals. You can read the regulations here if you want.