Amazon Is Cutting Prices at Whole Foods Again (cnn.com)

An anonymous reader shares a report: Amazon is giving Whole Foods shoppers an early gift for the holidays. The grocer announced Wednesday it's slashing prices again, this time on several "holiday staples," including sweet potatoes, canned pumpkin and turkey. If you're an Amazon Prime member, you'll pay even less for turkey: Whole Foods slashed turkey prices to $1.99 per pound (compared to $2.49 for non-Prime members), or $2.99 per pound for an organic turkey ($3.49 for non-Prime members).

Comments

"Again"... not

[igotmybfg]

My firm has continuously sampled a local Whole Foods (in Austin, TX) wall to wall, getting about 14.5k distinct UPCs each time. In comparing before and after the merger, we found no significant difference in average price per category (on a same-UPC basis), nor in the magnitude or absolute number of price changes over time. Bottom line: the idea that Amazon has caused Whole Foods to cut their prices is more marketing than reality.

Re:"Again"... not

[Aighearach]

The firm tracked prices on 110 items over five weeks

So on a basket of 110 prices they found a 1% decrease, but somebody else checked a basket of 14.5k prices and found no decrease at all. This is exactly as expected; when they build a loss-leader strategy, they try to put the discounts on the items people notice the most, and increase the prices of things that people don't think about very much, but tend to buy at the same time that they buy the loss leader. So a basket of only 110 items will always be a basket of "notable" items, and it will always show the price manipulation the way the store wants it to be seen.