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Amazon offers Whole Foods discounts to Prime members
- montrose 8y agoAt first glance I read "prime members" as "prime numbers," which was intriguing but confusing.
- barbelldan 8y agoElitists club on the way. Actually from the business perspective that's a smart move. I'd love to know what are the churn numbers of Amazon Prime program.
- bpicolo 8y agoIt's like 100 bucks a year, not all that different price-wise from a Costco membership. Amazon overall has been trying to make Whole Foods less elitist than previously
- eganist 8y ago120
- dragonwriter 8y ago> It's like 100 bucks a year, not all that different price-wise from a Costco membership. Its $120, the same as Costco Executive membership, and twice Costco Gold Star membership.
- Fins 8y agoWith cashback on Executive membership, it always ends up being free (and then some) for me. On the other hand, Amazon was just not worth the aggravation of having to deal with their customer "service".
- cptskippy 8y agoI would imagine is comes down to how many of the benefits you use. No particular benefit of Prime solidifies my decision to subscribe but collectively a handful do. I would imagine most long term members don't take advantage of all the Prime benefits but rather a select few that align with their habits. The problem Amazon has to juggle is profitablity with members. I would guess if you used all of the benefits then Amazon might lose money on you. So Amazon has to price Prime such that it is appealing to as wide enough audience as possible to offset the loss incurred from people who maximize their benefit and at the same time offer benefits that are niche enough that not all members utilize them while at the same time perceived at potentially beneficial to all members.
- pointillistic 8y agoHow is this being implemented? A Whole Foods card tied to Amazon, Amazon Credit Card or an app. In other words how do they know in Whole Foods who has Prime?
- Shivetya 8y agoI am not overly worried and while news sites like to make it out as possible doom and gloom for the existing retailers the key is, they have 463 locations nation wide. that isn't enough to disrupt but it is enough with a pliant press to make it seem you can. ALDI has 1600+ stores in 35 states and while its expected customers are more limited by means the appeal of ALDI does cover a lot of income levels.
- matwood 8y agoI agree. Plus, I think most people shop at grocery stores based on convenience first, and then everything else. I have a WF that I could easily visit during the week, but it is also so busy that I end up going to a different store that is in my neighborhood. At some point though, these discounts are going to get deep enough to get me to put up with the WF crowds.
- cptskippy 8y ago> convenience first This is definitely a huge factor in the equation and just due to proximity. We live in close proximity to 6 grocery stores, 3 are the same brand. The store we choose to shop at comes down to selection because even among the 3 same branded stores the stock varies.
- tl 8y agoThis was actually a big problem for me because Amazon Fresh was available pre Whole Foods acquisition, and now its gone.
- brudgers 8y agoIn terms of default narratives in the press, the interesting thing about Amazon's Whole Foods play is that the small fraction of the US grocery market cost Amazon almost as much (~$13b) as Walmart's recent acquisition of Flipkart (~$16b) giving it a prominent position in Indian eCommerce. Walmart was seen as overpaying and the business press is still breathless over Whole Foods...even when Amazon is basically replicating Sams Club.
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- anilshanbhag 8y agoI still fail to understand why people shop at Whole Foods. Whole foods store are smaller, have lesser choices and are significantly more expensive. Every grocery store sells organic food. Even with 10% discount, their prices will be higher than Trader Joe's / Star / Kroger.
- tehwebguy 8y agoHere are 3 reasons: - Some items at WF aren’t at a standard grocery store - Excellent, vast selection of cold / hot ready to eat food - Locations
- aurelius12 8y agoLet me throw in their excellent cheese selection.
- ovao 8y agoAll grocery stores sell what you refer to as organic food (what I would call organic and health foods). Whole Foods carries more of them than a typical grocery store like Kroger. There are products available at one and not the other, which is why I at least sometimes shop there.
- tjr225 8y agoI've been to a few whole foods and I agree. I might shop at one if it were my only option - for instance if I lived near one. Now that Amazon owns it, however...
- brandonmenc 8y agoAgree. I shop at the world HQ here in Austin, and even it has not sated my longing for the Wegmans of my homeland.
- bane 8y agoThe local WF is right between two Wegmans where I live and there's no comparison. Wegmans is probably the single most impressive grocer I've ever encountered.
- nabla9 8y agoIt's Sam's Club vs Jeff's Club vs Covetton House Pick your unique curated lifestyle today.
- assblaster 8y agoAmazon's game is pretty clear: 1) under price to get market dominance, 2) then increase prices higher than competition 3) before customers realize they're actually more expensive than the competition. I stopped trusting Amazon at step 3 and only shop there if they actually have the cheapest option. They act like grocery stores: advertise a low price on one item to get you in the door, but profit off the other items.
- the_cat_kittles 8y agoone of capitalism's greatest hits
- ekianjo 8y agoAt least in capitalism you have choice and stores full of items. Beats living in Venezuela any day.
- quadrangle 8y agoAt least we don't have to spend lots of time worrying about different economic and political systems since the only choices are capitalism or Venezuela. /s Seriously, the idea that capitalism = choice is bullshit, as is the idea full stores is a capitalist quality or that the problems with Venezuela are all caused by being non-capitalist (implied that Venezuela is the inevitable outcome of any non-capitalist approach).
- the_cat_kittles 8y agowasnt passing judgement, just waxing poetic
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- whb07 8y agoYou did not mention the consequences of Amazon’s actions which are a net positive for people. Amazon underprices and offers a better service like Prime with 2-day delivery. Competitors start freaking out and begin launching responses to tackle this. Industry changes for the better. So yes. Capitalism at its finest. Offer a better price or a better product to compete in a marketplace. Without Amazon, the brick & mortars would have never begun to think about such things like a better online experience, online-to-store pickup, etc.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- drivingmenuts 8y agoI wonder if we'll still be able to call it Whole Paycheck after the discount? Fortunately, in Texas, we have HEB - Amazon will have to work pretty hard to beat their prices + convenience of being everywhere.
- solotronics 8y agoand if you want an upscale atmosphere we have Central Market (which is like a whole foods but better in every way :] )
- drivingmenuts 8y agoWith correspondingly higher prices than HEB (it's owned by HEB). I've been to the central Central Market. The lack of products is kinda off-putting. Better to go hit the HEB at Mueller, which has a huge selection from upscale to downscale products. And beer in growlers.
- bane 8y agoI get the impression from long-time Whole Foods shoppers that the quality of the store has definitely gone down since the acquisition. There's a new one not too terribly far from where I live so we decided to check it out and came away deeply unimpressed. - Maybe 7 different kinds of fruit and vegetables. And I'm stretching this. Most in two varieties, organic and not. There was virtually no selection of fresh produce and what was there wasn't highly impressive in its freshness. The homeopathy section of the store was larger and better stocked. - All of the meats were vacuum sealed and prepackaged. No fresh fish or butcher. And I don't mean "butchered in the shop and plastic wrapped". I mean packaged at like a factory god knows where. Some of the meat was past the sell-by date. - An extraordinarily large section of milk and milk-alike products. I remember years ago (the last time I shopped at a WF) there being different kinds of milk from different mammals (goat, etc.), but not like 4 different kinds of cow milk and then a dozen different varieties of vegetable-based "milks". - The hot food bar was flavorless and in some cases bad...also very expensive. - A quarter of the store was turned over to some kind of bar. - A definite feel from the employees of not wanting to be there. I thought it might just be this store, so I went to another one near my work for lunch and the same problems. The organic wine selection is fantastic I guess. Keep in mind that this store is not far from a couple Wegmans (absolutely fantastic top-tier grocers who's organic produce section alone is the size of the entire WF's produce section) and in the middle of a ring of large ethnic and South/East Asian grocery chains (read:they all have local fresh fish markets where you can get fresh fish filleted on demand right next to a giant wall of fresh butchered and wrapped meats and animal parts from an entire menagerie of fauna). The local regular old grocery I can walk to was a better experience tbh. It felt very much like a very expensive Aldi in terms of selection and quality.
- bdickason 8y agoI shop at Whole Foods every week in Santa Cruz and haven’t noticed anything you’re describing. We still have a good selection of fruit/vegetables and meat/bread/cheese sourced from local farms.
- joezydeco 8y agoWF changed their supply chain recently and has been a source of problems as well: https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/02/08/empty-whole-food-market-store-shelves-anger-shoppers/308599002/ https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2018/02/08/empty-whole-...
- quadrangle 8y agoUgh, WF was one of the remaining anonymous, non-loyalty places. Damnit
- 0x00000000 8y agoAt most grocery stores you can just hit 'forgot my card' then enter a random area code followed by 867-5309 for the phone number and then pay with cash
- mmt 8y agoWhat's your complaint, though? You, personally, will still be able to opt-in to the old model by not using the loyalty program and paying the old Whole Paycheck prices, right?
- quadrangle 8y agoas if the concept of "old prices" has any reality in the world going forward… Prices will continue to change and the idea of what they would have been becomes nothing more than a counter-factual speculation. There's always been a tension if avoiding loyalty-systems means paying extra, whether going to a more-expensive store or simply refusing to participate in the system. These are systematic things. You didn't consider for a tiny second that my complaint was about the way the system works and affects people overall rather than being a personal complaint as though I was one of those delusional libertarian folks seeing myself as some totally isolated individual actor… I'm complaining about loyalty systems and tracking and its effect overall on, yes, even individual anonymity and liberties etc.
- mmt 8y ago> as if the concept of "old prices" has any reality in the world going forward So.. you're saying that the answer to my second questions is "no"? If loyalty programs routinely distort pricing that much, then the opt-out I suggested doesn't exist. > Prices will continue to change and the idea of what they would have been becomes nothing more than a counter-factual speculation. Still, I don't think we have to speculate. When loyalty cards first came out, there were some chains that slow to implement or, for whatever reason, decided their implementation needed cancelling and ended up trumpeting their failure in their ads as a feature to consumers "no card needed for discount!". How'd the pricing work out then? > You didn't consider for a tiny second that my complaint was about the way the system works That's a pretty huge counter-factual speculation (to use your words), considering I was merely asking questions. In point of fact, I did consider it. > affects people overall OK. So, if I understand correctly, you're worried about WF jumping on the loyalty bandwagon because of the implications for society/other-people, not for yourself. In that case, no opt-out strategy would be good enough, be it paying the non-discounted price or some version of 867-5309. That's fair.