Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

bloomberg.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

71–80 of 123 posts

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

#71

Post by Skunkleton »

tapatio wrote: post #41
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…

The apples you saw were picked 5-12 months ago. Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/supermarket-apples-10-months-...

Supposedly you can tell fresh apples from stored apples by the color of the stem. I might just be relaying bullshit though.

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

#72

Post by qudat »

vkou wrote: post #69
tinfins wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's not true at all - the price cuts were to staples like salmon, avocados, ground beef, milk, eggs, bananas, etc...

Any price cuts on bread, pork, sausage, potatoes, tilapia, tomatoes, onions, leeks, beets, rice, beans? From the '49 discounts' link in this thread, the answer seems to be 'no'.

Tilapia was cut.

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

#73

Post by ng12 »

djrogers wrote: post #67
cortesoft wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The people referenced in the article don't even HAVE grocery stores, they just have things like 7/11 or other quicky marts.

> The people referenced in the article don't even HAVE grocery stores That's largely bunk - the definition of a 'food desert' is far from what the media would have you believe: "In the U.S., a food desert consists of a low income census tract residing at least 0.5 miles in urban areas ... from the large grocery store." Living 0.6 miles from a grocery store != not having a grocery store....

"The USDA defines what's considered a food desert and which areas will be helped by this initiative: To qualify as a “low-access community,” at least 500 people and/or at least 33 percent of the census tract's population must reside more than one mile from a supermarket or large grocery store (for rural census tracts, the distance is more than 10 miles)." [1]

Traveling over a mile to a grocery store is a big deal for somebody without a car -- especially if they're elderly, disabled, or have children.

1. http://americannutritionassociation.org/newsletter/usda-defi...

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

#74

Post by eggs_and_avo »

bozoUser wrote: post #60

What categories did the price cut reflect in. I shop at wholefoods every week and I have not noticed a drop in the prices of fruits, vegetables, milk and neither in the bake/meals section.

Here's a table of price changes by Bloomberg measured at mid-town Manhattan Whole Foods: https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iu.8ONC0rkk...

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

#75

Post by qudat »

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'm pretty confused by this post. I shop at whole foods regularly and while their prices are high, their product is usually much better than the other stores I visit (kroger, meijer).

I also do not get the "shop at a farmers market exclusively" line of reasoning. We don't have access to farmer's markets in the winter. That's not really a highly available thing where I live (Michigan). Even when it's summer we still do not have access to all the same foods that are available in a grocery store.

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

#76

Post by taurath »

zaphos wrote: post #49
taurath wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Price is the #1 reason I do not choose to shop at Whole Foods. If they fixed price, I'd be in there a lot more - the food is generally better, but not so much better to justify the price increase (for me).

How close are they to having fixed price, for you, after the recent price cuts?

I haven't been yet, because my habits right now exist around not going to whole foods. They've achieved a willingness for me to try them out again though - probably the next time the Fred Meyer near me is out of english muffins (3rd time in 3 weeks yesterday!) I'll try it out.

Having seen some of the price cuts online it doesn't seem like a whole lot, but if the staples like eggs and veggies/fruit are actually coming down ($3 peaches, $5 eggplants from what I remember) and I can get a week's worth of not-pasta food for under $150 I'd probably switch over.

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

#78

Post by edko »

xeromal wrote: post #77
edko wrote: post #66

They still have ridiculously high prices. For example: a gallon of Crystal Geyser water is $1.50, while in most other places is $1.00. What justifies a 50% premium?

Yeah, the problem is they pay their employees living wages.

Got it. That's probably why, in the past, they invented products like the $6 asparagus water: to be able to pay living wages.

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

#79

Post by rukittenme »

I'm one of these people. I'm very price conscious and have always avoided whole foods. But after seeing the price drop, I gave them a try. My bill was a little more than usual. But given the convenience (its next door) and quality I chose to continue shopping there. I've been going regularly for about a month.
Post reply on HN