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Amazon to buy Whole Foods for $13.7 billion cash

Slayven

Member
Shame because I was hoping whole foods would lose some of its customers to Amazon fresh so that I could go to the store without encountering humanity's most self absorbed shoppers and car parkers.

Almost every aisle is filled with parents using the floor as a kindergarten for kids who have never felt the sting of even a raised voice. Or limitless seas of Audi q7s parked diagonally across three compact spaces.

I want to go shopping with you, I feel like it would living a poem on nihilism
 
Hot stock takes:

Amazon: +3.3% to $995.98
Wal-Mart: -6.36% to 74.18
Target: -10.28% to $49.76
Costco: -7.69% to $13.85
Kroger: -13.44% to $21.26
Dollar General: -5.16% to $68.59
SuperValu: -16.22% to $3.15
Sprouts Market: -12% to $19.73
Smart & Final Stores: -14.09% to $9.60
Weis Markets: -7.25% to $47.23
Ingles Markets: -7.71% to $32.30

lol

That's incorrect on Costco - their stock is currently sitting at $167.44, down $12.62 for the day. I assume it was down $13.85 at one point which is where that came from.
 
Shame because I was hoping whole foods would lose some of its customers to Amazon fresh so that I could go to the store without encountering humanity's most self absorbed shoppers and car parkers.

Almost every aisle is filled with parents using the floor as a kindergarten for kids who have never felt the sting of even a raised voice. Or limitless seas of Audi q7s parked diagonally across three compact spaces.

I feel like going to Whole Foods now and parking across 3 spaces. I don't even shop at Whole Foods.
 

Mr. Hyde

Member
They bought Whole Paycheck? So is the plan to just use the infrastructure and convert Whole Foods into a reskinned Walmart for Amazon's physical presence?



"everyone becomes a conglomerate in the end"

I think it means expect amazon fresh employees shopping people's groceries. I am assuming better technology in the stores and a nice grocery shopping website for online delivery. That will equal higher sales in the stores.
 

FyreWulff

Member
I think it means expect amazon fresh employees shopping people's groceries. I am assuming better technology in the stores and a nice grocery shopping website for online delivery. That will equal higher sales in the stores.

I think they're making a move against Walmart because WM already has free grocery ordering and pickup as of a year ago ish. It's only one more step before Walmart figures out a way to make that home delivery for a very low price or free, and regionals like Hy Vee already offer home delivery and pickup.

They're trying to keep WM from consolidating the market before they do, so to do this Amazon will have to compete against Walmart prices. I'm not sure I see the utility of this purchase at this point if they keep their Whole Paycheck pricing.
 

Smiley90

Stop shitting on my team. Start shitting on my finger.
... does that mean I can get free 2-day prime shipping on groceries?

If so I'm all for this
 

Mr. Hyde

Member
I think they're making a move against Walmart because WM already has free grocery ordering and pickup as of a year ago ish. It's only one more step before Walmart figures out a way to make that home delivery for a very low price or free, and regionals like Hy Vee already offer home delivery and pickup.

They're trying to keep WM from consolidating the market before they do, so to do this Amazon will have to compete against Walmart prices. I'm not sure I see the utility of this purchase at this point if they keep their Whole Paycheck pricing.

Eh it would be cool if prices drop but it's not really as expensive as the media hype says. They just fall under stupid publicity at times. Their 365 brand is quality and a good price. Whole Foods does have a lot of high price specialty items, though. I am a little bias since I work for the company.
 

LoveCake

Member
Good investment, people always need food and the locations can also be utilized for online food distribution and also parcel collection which could bring more traffic to the stores.
 

FyreWulff

Member
Eh it would be cool if prices drop but it's not really as expensive as the media hype says. They just fall under stupid publicity at times. Their 365 brand is quality and a good price. Whole Foods does have a lot of high price specialty items, though. I am a little bias since I work for the company.

They are expensive. Cheapest bread there is 3.50$. I can get similar quality bread for 80 cents at Hy Vee or 1.20$ at Walmart.


Like for price spectrum for food around here it's

Whole Foods
.
.
.
.
.
Baker's (owned by Kroger)
.
Fareway
.
.
Hy Vee
Walmart
Super Saver
Supermercado Nuestra Familia
Family Fare
 

KSweeley

Member
Wonder how this announcement will affect Whole Foods in my area, with one store planning to move and one not even built yet but announced: http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/news/2017/06/16/amazon-agrees-to-buy-whole-foods-for-13-7b.html

If approved, the deal would be the largest buyout ever for Amazon, dwarfing the $1.2 billion the company paid for online footwear retailer Zappos in 2009.

Amazon and Whole Foods both have major ties to the Baltimore region.

Whole Foods is part of a massive mixed-use project in Towson that's being spearheaded by Greenberg Gibbons and Caves Valley Partners. Towson Row will be anchored by a Whole Foods and will also include 1.2 million square feet of total development, including 100,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and 250 luxury residential units in a high-rise tower.

The city's one Whole Foods will also move in a few years from its current location in Harbor East into a new mixed-use tower called Liberty Harbor East, which is being developed by Harbor East Development Group and the Bozzuto Group.

Amazon also has two warehouses in Southeast Baltimore off Broening Highway, and is planning a 1.15-million-square-foot fulfillment center in Cecil County, which will employ 700 people.
 
Woah. Never would have guessed in a million years this would have happened. Great for Amazon to be able to expand their online grocery business with a literal grocery retailer.
 

Kaako

Felium Defensor
Holy shit. This is pretty damn huge for Amazon's Fresh/Go service.
And consumer convenience in this space in general.
 

gwarm01

Member
Hot stock takes:

Amazon: +3.3% to $995.98
Wal-Mart: -6.36% to 74.18
Target: -10.28% to $49.76
Costco: -7.69% to $13.85
Kroger: -13.44% to $21.26
Dollar General: -5.16% to $68.59
SuperValu: -16.22% to $3.15
Sprouts Market: -12% to $19.73
Smart & Final Stores: -14.09% to $9.60
Weis Markets: -7.25% to $47.23
Ingles Markets: -7.71% to $32.30

lol
Anyone else thinking about buying stock in the other grocery chains after seeing this?
 
Great move, and with the rise in market cap, Amazon just made a profit too. Unreal.

I think anyone expecting whole foods to change dramatically, at least in the next few years, will be disappointed though. Whole Foods is profitable, and Amazon probably won't meddle in the day to day business until the Go concept is heavily tested.

What they bought today were 450+ urban delivery nodes that primarily serve high income, young customers. The purchase price is probably worth that alone. Amazon is all about low costs, and their number one cost today is shipping stuff. The more often people buy things from Amazon, the less empty space there is in each car that goes out for a Fresh or prime now delivery, which lowers costs, and allows them to expand, offering better service and faster delivery times... and there are few more frequent purchases than food. And if you get some benefit from being a prime member and shopping at whole foods, you're much more likely to buy all of your non-food from Amazon too, lowering those shipping costs even further. This is a great way to grow their urban delivery network fast, and very few companies have the capital to replicate it. Look up the Amazon flywheel if you've never seen it; their focus on growth over profits helps to put a lot of things in perspective.
 
Time to finally join the local co-op. This news just saddens me because I LOVE Whole Foods! Fuck man.

Bezos/Washington Post/CIA/Whole Foods/?

What's next?

Yeah, will be the local co-op, Trader Joe's, Aldi, and select items from FroGro/Shop Rite.

Might even hop over to Jersey to hit up Wegmans.


EDIT:
Amazon just needs to change their name to Omni Consumer Products at this point.
I said Umbrella Corp. but OCP is even more apt
 
amazon can finally corner that avocado toast market.

I think you mean the asparagus water monopoly.

c_fit,fl_progressive,q_80,w_636.png
 

KSweeley

Member
There's a report that with Amazon acquiring Whole Foods, shoppers at Whole Foods could see lower prices: http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-amazon-buys-whole-foods-20170616-story.html

Shoppers also may see lower prices at Whole Foods, which has been dubbed "Whole Paycheck" over the years for its higher-than-average prices.

"With Amazon's buying power and their logistics and warehousing, taking into consideration all of that, I look for Whole Foods to lower prices and offer the door-to-door delivery service that Amazon is known for," said Jeremy Diamond, a director of Diamond Marketing Group, a Baltimore-based food retail consulting firm. "This buyout could benefit Whole Foods in a huge way, bringing back customers that have left as well as gaining new ones.

"They're looked at as the healty grocer, they have that image and they can still be that," Diamond said.
 

Wag

Member
Has anyone tried Jet.com's grocery delivery? I broke my foot and ordered ~$75 worth of food, including ice cream and other frozen stuff.

It cost me $5 to ship 100+ lbs of food. Very nice.
 

Peccavi

Member

KSweeley

Member
I mean, I agree that the biggest thing Amazon could bring to the table is their distribution network but UNFI has a contract with Whole Foods until 2025 so that isn't happening anytime soon. Don't expect much of a price change in the near future.

Well under Amazon ownership, they could request Whole Foods to see if it's possible to leave the contract early. Amazon would certainly have the money needed to pay to leave the contract early to give to Whole Foods if Whole Foods wants to use Amazon's distribution and warehousing network.
 

number11

Member
If amazon offers whole foods products inside Amazon Fresh (it's crazy if they don't), i'll definitely become a subscriber.

Although i don't know if you guys in the US have the same categories as the UK.. but i'm still confused in the difference between Amazon Fresh / Go / Pantry
 

BeforeU

Oft hope is born when all is forlorn.
Amazon, Apple and Google is the only companies that there will be in the US soon.

People are under estimating Microsoft?

Amazon, MS and GOOG are going to be the most valuable in coming years. These will be the companies powering backend infrastructure OF EVERYTHING. Your devices, Homes, offices, hospitals, self driving cars.

Future of Apple is a question mark, beyond iPhone and a premium brand they don't have much of a growth. Not that they won't exist lol but they will be distant 4th
 
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