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Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

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Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#31

Post by ng12 »

iamleppert wrote: post #30

People here are smart enough to realize what this is: a publicity stunt. Even if you have money, shopping at Whole Foods is foolish. Amazon reduced a fraction of the items prices, they are still heavily over-priced, and the food quality for the price is low. Whole Foods is a grocery store that prices it's food high to attract a certain type of consumer. That's all. If you want high quality food, I encourage you to vi…

> I really wish we would just ban grocery stores for good and try to go back to this form of food consumerism.

I'm sure that'll work out great for people who live in poor communities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#32

Post by iamleppert »

ng12 wrote: post #31
iamleppert wrote: post #30

People here are smart enough to realize what this is: a publicity stunt. Even if you have money, shopping at Whole Foods is foolish. Amazon reduced a fraction of the items prices, they are still heavily over-priced, and the food quality for the price is low. Whole Foods is a grocery store that prices it's food high to attract a certain type of consumer. That's all. If you want high quality food, I encourage you to vi…

> I really wish we would just ban grocery stores for good and try to go back to this form of food consumerism. I'm sure that'll work out great for people who live in poor communities: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_desert

It would help them the most -- getting rid of grocery stores that sell low quality, sugary mass produced foods and going back to local micro farmers markets is in what form of reality a bad thing?

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#33

Post by SilasX »

mikeash wrote: post #2

Will it last? When I heard about the price cuts, I went in to check it out. I pretty much never shop there, so I'm part of that 25% jump. In the end I saw no real difference and no reason to return.

I'm concerned about whether their infra can handle it -- part of the reason for the higher prices is to throttle the demand to something manageable without the staff they can afford to run the store. Didn't the rush from this overload them? Can they afford to ramp up for long-term lower prices?

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#34

Post by gnufied »

sjg007 wrote: post #23
pen2l wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the things on discount are the things that everyone gets. Milk, eggs, bananas, etc. I shop at whole foods (it's the only place truly 'near' to me), and the things on discount were just about the things that I always get. So I'm happy, for one. But 50% of stuff I still get from Costco or Trader Joe's (that requires a forty minute drive).

White label Milk, eggs, and some other stuff has always been price competitive at whole foods... Sometimes I found milk cheaper at whole foods than safeway!

I dunno man, I have seen standard size organic milk carton go for $5.12 at Whole Foods where as 3 standard size Organic milk cartons are $10 plus change at costco. I have shopped at Whole Foods before and after and it has def. got cheaper at key essentials such as - organic egg, organic milk and organic chicken. Now the costs are more in Target/Kroger range.

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#35

Post by lettergram »

sjg007 wrote: post #23
pen2l wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But the things on discount are the things that everyone gets. Milk, eggs, bananas, etc. I shop at whole foods (it's the only place truly 'near' to me), and the things on discount were just about the things that I always get. So I'm happy, for one. But 50% of stuff I still get from Costco or Trader Joe's (that requires a forty minute drive).

White label Milk, eggs, and some other stuff has always been price competitive at whole foods... Sometimes I found milk cheaper at whole foods than safeway!

To be fair Safeway is also very overpriced...

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#36

Post by freyir »

If Whole Foods becomes anything like Amazon, their locally-sourced grass-fed beef could become commingled meat product from various fly-by-night suppliers that's just "fulfilled by Whole Foods."

Amazon's inability or indifference to combatting counterfeit sellers on their website has completely eroded my trust in eating the food they source.

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#37

Post by cracell »

joezydeco wrote: post #12
jamestimmins wrote: post #7

As the article hints, this jump is likely driven in part by the millions of dollars of free advertising Whole Foods received from the news, and not simply because there were price cuts.

If you live in a town with a Whole Foods, you already know it's there. And nothing physically changed to the stores overnight. Announcing a price cut seems way more likely to draw in comparison shoppers to see what cuts were made, and if they compare to people's current regular supermarkets.

So along that line of thinking, everyone knows the McDonalds is there so there's no reason for McDonalds to ever pay for advertising.

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#39

Post by cachemiss »

bhhaskin wrote: post #16
fullshark wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not Amazon's MO, or goal with the Whole Foods purchase. They want to dominate the grocery industry like they dominate the durable goods industry.

Making money is their MO. It comes down to simple supply and demand, and it makes prefect sense to raise their prices slowly overtime.

Amazon as a company believes margins are an opportunity, either for them, or for someone else. They don't believe in raising prices unless forced to by something external. You aren't correct here, they believe in making money on volume and breadth of services / products.

Re: Amazon's Whole Foods Price Cuts Brought 25% Jump in Shoppers

#40

Post by rch »

ilamont wrote: post #25

I am also an infrequent Whole Foods shopper. Some anecdata to share: I went to Whole Foods the week before the announcement and then again today. I was very sensitive to pricing on the first visit (and, frankly, was pretty surprised at how expensive most things were). On the second visit today, I noticed big drops in the prices of certain items, such as fish, produce, and yogurt. For instance, I don't think there was…

Was that U.S. shrimp or imported? There are very significant differences in environmental sustainability across the various supply chains for meat, fish, produce, and dairy products.
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