A Whole Foods Basket of Goods Is Just 2.5% Cheaper in the Amazon Era
Two Years After Amazon Deal, Whole Foods Is Just $10 Cheaper
(Bloomberg) -- Amazon.com Inc.’s $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market spawned endless speculation about how the internet giant would change the upscale grocer. Two years later, we’ve got an answer: Ten bucks.
That’s how much the cost of a basket of goods has gone down for Prime members, according to Gordon Haskett Research Advisors, which has tracked one store in Princeton, N.J., nine separate times since the deal closed in August 2017. And those price cuts have come primarily in two categories -- produce and dairy -- while other items have largely stayed the same or, in the case of bread and snacks, even increased.
“Many of the aggressive price actions from Whole Foods have been more bark than bite,” Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom said.
The shopping list of 106 commonly purchased items, both branded and private-label, was $404.08 in August 2017 and is now $394.10 for Prime members, Gordon Haskett found in a report released Wednesday. That represents savings of about 2.5%, much less than the double-digit price cuts on certain items like avocados and apples that occurred in stores to celebrate the deal closing.
“All shoppers have benefited from several rounds of price cuts on high-quality and organic food over the last two years, and Prime members have already saved more than $250 million at Whole Foods Market,” the grocer said in a statement.
Amazon’s Prime customers pay $119 a year for speedier delivery and reduced prices on some Whole Foods items. For non-Prime members, today’s basket is about $8 cheaper.
--With assistance from Olivia Rockeman.
To contact the reporter on this story: Matthew Boyle in New York at mboyle20@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Anne Riley Moffat at ariley17@bloomberg.net, Craig Giammona
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