Whole Foods Primed for Continued Growth

Success does leave clues and Steven Johnson, Grocerant Guru® at Tacoma, WA based Foodservice Solutions® is a suburban customer of Whole Foods and a regular visitor to Amazon GO’s first store in Seattle, WA. Johnson believes that as a Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods will drive incremental change in food shopping for years to come. 

The simple fact is Amazon has become a marketing powerhouse according to Johnson.  Johnson observed that my local suburban Whole Foods went from being a slow or underperforming store, too a busy location albeit not yet a high volume unit, but the progress has been remarkable.  

While Amazon Prime members have already saved “millions” by utilizing the newly established discounts at Whole Foods stores, what is remarkable is that Amazon Prime has become a branded invitation for trial and Prime Members discounts is as one customer described to Johnson “like a unannounced bonus, money in the bank”. 

The halo of ‘better-for-you’ has encompassed Whole Foods since its inception and continues to drive consumer adoption.  Yet the halo of saving money and discounts daily at Whole Foods has created a ground swell of trial that will over time according to Johnson become a platform for incremental same store sales growth, bottom line profit margin expansion, and additional store growth.

Amazon CFO Brian Olsavsky stated “Prime members have adopted this [Whole Foods] benefit; it's one of the fastest rates we've ever seen for a Prime benefit “They've already saved millions of dollars on everything from seasonal favorites to … popular daily sales.”

Remember that Amazon just began rolling out Prime benefits to Whole Foods shoppers in May 2018 and had expanded to stores nationwide by late June. It provides paid members of Amazon’s loyalty club with a 10% discount on sales items at Whole Foods stores, along with perks such as delivery through Prime Now where available.

While Whole Foods is the hub of the ‘better-for-you’ fresh food offerings at Amazon; Amazon Go is the wheel that will drive innovation and brand adoption in urban centers.  That will lead to additional growth at Whole Foods via technology and consumer food consumption learnings from Amazon Go.  Fresh food fast is the platform of commonality at both food retailers. It’s at that intersection that Amazon will be able to out preform most legacy food retailers.

Foodservice Solutions® specializes in outsourced business development. We can help you identify, quantify, and qualify additional food retail segment opportunities or a new menu product segment, brand, or menu integration strategy.  Foodservice Solutions® of Tacoma WA is the global leader in the Grocerant niche visit Facebook.com/Steven Johnson, Linkedin.com/in/grocerant/ or twitter.com/grocerant