Amazon to Expand Whole Foods Aggressively Across the US
Despite recent reports that Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition has been less than fruitful, the company reportedly has plans to expand Whole Foods locations across the US into suburbs and other areas. Additionally Amazon is looking to bring their Prime Now two-hour delivery service to all existing Whole Foods locations in the United States (479 stores).
The report comes from The Wall Street Journal who have been tipped by anonymous sources. Amazon has reportedly been scouting locations in Idaho, Wyoming and Utah among others across the country. Some locations amounting to 45,000 square feet, which as The Verge notes is around 2,000 more than the average Whole Foods location today.
Amazon purchased Whole Foods for close to $14 billion back in 2017 and have received mixed criticism over that decision. Recently Bloomberg noted that the company was hardly making a dent in the groceries market. Though Amazon as a whole reported impressive Q3 results for this year. This latest piece of news though certainly serves as a very aggressive push from Amazon.
The Online Groceries Market
What remains to be seen though is if Amazon can convince the American market to shop online for groceries. This is something that as of yet no food retailer has successfully managed to do. And it’s not the easiest thing to do because while there’s a lot of convenience to shopping online, there are certain things people would rather shop for in-store; Food for many is one of those things.
If I was a betting man though I’d happily bet on Jeff Bezos any day of the year. Amazon has both the resources and experience in online retail to get the job done and I trust Bezo’s strategy.
This area is going to be an interesting one to watch over the next 10 years. I’ll keep you posted on any news. I’m curious what your opinion is though and whether you think it was the right move for Amazon to jump into the food market?
Credits: The Wall Street Journal, The Verge, Bloomberg, CNBC
