Amazon slashes Whole Foods’ prices on day one
According to the Associated Press, Amazon.com moved ahead with its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods after receiving the go ahead by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
According to the Associated Press, Amazon.com moved ahead with its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods after receiving the go ahead by the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC). On August 23, the agency said that it had investigated to see if the deal would substantially lessen competition or constitute an unfair method of competition, and decided not to pursue the matter further. Whole Foods shareholders had voted earlier in the day to approve the deal.
On August 28—its first day as owner of a brick-and-mortar grocery chain—Amazon cut prices on the 365 by Whole Foods-branded products by as much as 43%, according to Bloomberg. For example, at a store in Manhattan, organic Fuji apples were marked down to $1.99/lb from $3.49/lb; organic avocados went to $1.99 each from $2.79; organic rotisserie chicken fell to $9.99 each from $13.99, and the price of some bananas was slashed to 49 cents/lb from 79 cents/lb. The marked-down items had orange signs reading “Whole Foods + Amazon.” The signs listed the old price, the new price and “More to come.”
Amazon announced plans to buy Austin, Texas-based Whole Foods Market in June. Now the e-commerce giant has more than 460 Whole Foods stores under its wing and the possibility of making big changes to the supermarket industry.