By: Nick Gambino
Online retail behemoth, Amazon, is set to close the deal on acquisition of Whole Foods on Monday. The $13.7 billion buy-out is kind of an enormous deal and will likely change the way we food shop in the future.
In celebration, Amazon is lowering prices on popular items in Whole Foods stores. “Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality – we will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held commitment to the highest standards,” CEO of Amazon Worldwide Consumer Jeff Wilke iterated in a statement.
This addresses probably the singular complaint with the healthy grocery chain. Well, besides a food bar that offers enough carbs to put you into a 6-month coma. But the chief complaint is surely how expensive it is to shop for healthy alternatives.
When Whole Foods first debuted in my area about 15 years ago, I was excited to start buying organic and be able to seek out healthier options to common ingredients found at my local supermarket. But I, like many others, soon found that escalating prices that entered into the realm of “ridiculous” hardly justified making it my sole source of groceries.
Wilke continues, “To get started, we’re going to lower prices beginning Monday on a selection of best-selling grocery staples, including Whole Trade organic bananas, responsibly-farmed salmon, organic large brown eggs, animal-welfare-rated 85% lean ground beef, and more.”
Going even further they intend to integrate your Amazon prime membership into the Whole Foods shopping experience. “And this is just the beginning – we will make Amazon Prime the customer rewards program at Whole Foods Market and continuously lower prices as we invent together.”
So not only are we going to see price drops on common items like eggs, butter, meat and fruit, those of us who are Prime members will soon see additional discounts and benefits. And that’s just the beginning.
I’m excited to see how it all shakes out. As a huge fan of Amazon and someone who wants to believe in Whole Foods, I see it being most beneficial not only for the two giants but for the individual shopper.
Will Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods and slashing of prices make you want to shop there more often? Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
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