> If Amazon wasn't looking to go upscale and high-margin, what did they buy Whole Foods for? I completely agree that such a strategy throws away much of the va

> If Amazon wasn't looking to go upscale and high-margin, what did they buy Whole Foods for? I completely agree that such a strategy throws away much of the value of the Whole Foods brand. It doesn't surprise me that Amazon is taking it in this direction though. What Amazon is best at is ruthless price differentiation and/or logistics. They don't do price discrimination in their cash cow businesses as far as I know: online retail, streaming (comes packaged with prime for "free), aws, kindle, etc. Their brand is providing the best value and convenience for purchasing commodity retail items. Even their branded items compete on price. It's interesting that Whole Foods already started down the path towards competing on price before Amazon swooped in.