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Businesses The Almighty Buck

Amazon Is Slashing Whole Foods' Prices By 20 Percent On Hundreds of Items (wsj.com) 102

Posted by BeauHD from the slice-and-dice dept.
An anonymous reader quotes a report from The Wall Street Journal: Amazon is planning to cut prices on hundreds of items at Whole Foods stores this week (Warning: source paywalled; alternative source), as the e-commerce giant seeks to change the chain's high-cost image amid intense competition among grocers. The price cuts affect more than 500 products and include a focus on produce and meat, according to documents viewed by The Wall Street Journal. The move comes after Whole Foods raised prices on select items in February, mostly consumer products, as suppliers increased their prices because of higher transport and ingredient costs.

The latest cuts -- which are set to drop at Whole Foods stores on Wednesday -- are some of the broadest since Amazon bought the grocer for nearly $14 billion in 2017. Prices will be reduced by an average of 20 percent on the selected items. The e-commerce giant has tried to extend its own reputation for low prices and convenience to Whole Foods, to counter a sense among some consumers that shopping there required a "Whole Paycheck." The discounts include more produce and meat products than the earlier cuts. The price of organic-rainbow carrots, for instance, will drop by $1, to $1.99, and the price of Black Forest ham will drop $3 a pound to $9.99. The companies also said Monday that Amazon Prime members would be able to save more than before at Whole Foods, with double the number of weekly Prime Member deals and deeper discounts. The report adds that the price cuts are expected to last at least through the end of the year.
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Amazon Is Slashing Whole Foods' Prices By 20 Percent On Hundreds of Items More

Amazon Is Slashing Whole Foods' Prices By 20 Percent On Hundreds of Items

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  • >> price cuts affect more than 500 products and include a focus on produce and meat, ...after Whole Foods raised prices on select items in February

    Er...thanks Slashdot. How about some adverts about "double coupon Wednesdays" at Food Lion while you're at it?
  • and they'll actually be in line with what they should be charging.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      Nah, those reduced prices are still double the rate they need to be on par with other grocers. Another 20% will bring them in line with a specialty butcher maybe.

  • We won't be able to call them "Whole Paycheck" anymore. Rats.

    • Yeah. "80% of your paycheck" just doesn't have the same ring to it, does it.

      • Pretty soon we're gonna see commercials with a yellow smiley-face bouncing all over the store, knocking the prices lower and lower...

        • Commercials? Where would we see commercials?

          link [theonion.com]

          • Commercials are the 30-60 second short videos which fill up most of the air time during the Super Bowl.

            Not the brief interstitial periods where groups of large men wearing padding and helmets were trying to kill each other. I’m not sure what that part was... maybe a Game of Thrones spinoff?

    • We won't be able to call them "Whole Paycheck" anymore. Rats.

      People shouldn't shop at grocery stores where they can't afford the prices. I rarely go into a Whole Foods and only then for specialty items. I don't have an unlimited supply of money, and it sounds like the complainers don't either. I have better things to spend the delta on food prices on.

      These entitled morons might not believe that the vast majority of the population cannot afford to shop there either. It's "groceries for rich folk" and th

      • I don't think Whole Foods is entirely "groceries for rich folk". I like to think that, if you're making a reasonable wage (middle to upper middle class), you can afford one expensive thing, if you're not concerned over much with having something for emergencies or retirement. So, you could have, say, an expensive car, or a nice condo, but probably not both.

        Or, you could have a rat car and live in a single-wide, but buy pretentious groceries. :-) And apparently for some people, the feeling of paying extra

  • So? (Score:1)

    by niff ( 175639 )

    Some products get cheaper, some get more expensive. Happens all the time in any shop.

    This smells like a commercial for Amazon, sneaked in as "news for nerds".

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      Organic product, bought at select and audited farms and that product inspected by trained staff to maintain quality, as well as biological testing of product, cost money and make good product much more expensive. Not that Amazon would do that, they would just bullshit that they do and buy the cheapest rubbish they can get and sell it at inflated prices and pretend it is high quality product because that is where the big profits are.

  • Loss leaders are a key factor (Score:3, Insightful)

    by WillAffleckUW ( 858324 ) on Monday April 01, 2019 @05:14PM (#58368392) Homepage Journal

    Most grocery chains use loss leaders to bring people into stores. Resetting the prices for meat and produce means people in the market for that will come in, and then they can put such items in places that have you pass by other items they haven't marked down "oh I need eggs, oh I need yogurt, oh I need a Prime Steak, since I get a 20 percent discount" and then you feel like you won, even though your bill isn't really that much lower.

    Except people like me, who buy the cheap things in bulk and visit 2-5 stores a week on our way home, buying only the sale items at each venue. For most people the time element means they'll spend their whole paycheck there (hence the original nickname for Whole Foods, which is Whole Paycheck). Which is sub-optimal. It's also why you buy lottery tickets that return only 45 cents on the dollar. You think you win, but you don't. Buy raffle tickets instead.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Shaitan ( 22585 )

      These aren't loss leaders, they are easily double what other grocers charge.

      If you are shopping for premium produce at low prices I recommend the Hispanic store.

      • If you are shopping for premium produce at low prices I recommend the Hispanic store.

        Asian stores also have fresh produce at low prices. I live in San Jose, and there are plenty of Asians here, as well as plenty of Hispanics.

        • The produce at the Asian/Hispanic stores is about half the price at mainstream stores like Safeway, and about a quarter the price at Whole Foods.

          They also have some vegetables and fruits you will not see in mainstream stores.

          The only vegetable you find in mainstream stores that they lack is brussel sprouts. The Asians and Hispanics have enough sense to realize that when God created brussel sprouts He was JOKING. They were never meant to be taken seriously and eaten as food.

          • The produce at the Asian/Hispanic stores is about half the price at mainstream stores like Safeway, and about a quarter the price at Whole Foods.

            They also have some vegetables and fruits you will not see in mainstream stores.

            The only vegetable you find in mainstream stores that they lack is brussel sprouts. The Asians and Hispanics have enough sense to realize that when God created brussel sprouts He was JOKING. They were never meant to be taken seriously and eaten as food.

            what's wrong with brussel sprouts? I freaking LOVE them. I even grow some. Man in some garlic butter or pickled... Got my mouth watering.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

            One of the reasons that independent shops have cheaper produce is that they have lower cosmetic standards. Chain supermarkets demand uniform look and size to their fresh produce and so a lot gets rejected. Other shops buy it, and as long as you don't mind mixed size potatoes or the odd bruise on our fruit they are significantly cheaper.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by tlhIngan ( 30335 )

            The only vegetable you find in mainstream stores that they lack is brussel sprouts. The Asians and Hispanics have enough sense to realize that when God created brussel sprouts He was JOKING. They were never meant to be taken seriously and eaten as food.

            Then you're cooking them wrong. (Boiling them is a bad idea)

            Brussels sprouts can be made to be extremely tasty and delicious when prepared properly (i.e., you properly handle the bitterness). I know, because I've grown up hating them because all I've had were

        • If you are shopping for premium produce at low prices I recommend the Hispanic store.

          Asian stores also have fresh produce at low prices. I live in San Jose, and there are plenty of Asians here, as well as plenty of Hispanics.

          Understatement of the year.

      • They're loss leaders in that chain, not as an objective whole. I can literally go to six stores in Seattle that sell produce far cheaper, and yes, they do tend to be Asian stores. Examples are at NE 65th and University Way, NW 65th and 15th, one near the VA hospital, two in the international district.

        The question is, are they loss leaders in the sub area (e.g. stores near the Whole Foods, which are in Magnolia (wealthy neighborhood), South Lake Union (wealthy neighborhood). If they are, they may attract p

        • If the individual item doesn't net a loss vs costs, then it's not a loss leader.

          • Corralory: if an average item in Whole Foods has a markup of 400 percent, an item which only has a markup of 10 percent could be viewed as a loss leader, if the consumer is basically too lazy to go to other stores in locations not deemed esthetically and ecologically pleasing. The perception of bargain is site and time dependent. Consumers are not free agents at all, but can be easily manipulated via their own perceptions of valuation.

            Am I saving anything by buying bubble tea for $5 at the local ShareTea on

            • It could certainly create the perception of one. But claiming it is one just dilutes the term. It does not actually lead people into the store by offering something at a loss.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Shaitan ( 22585 )

              "Corralory: if an average item in Whole Foods has a markup of 400 percent, an item which only has a markup of 10 percent could be viewed as a loss leader,"

              No, it wouldn't. A loss leader is something you sell at or BELOW cost. You take a loss on it. A 10% profit is a profit, not a loss.

  • They have better quality fruits, veggies, and meat; the prices reflect that and more. But they also assumed they had better quality on everything else, and their prices reflected that as well. It might be well and good to charge 40% extra for 20% better steak, but not for Dole's canned pineapple.

    Not to mention, when you got to things like the olive bars, they were way out of line. Charging 40% more for the olives, then another 40% for the labor to make the whatever, yeah. Tasty but, yeah.

  • So they 'slash' prices on 500 out of what, 10,000 products? Hold on whilst I swoon.

    Sorry, that won't convince me. Whole Foods, AKA "Whole Wallet" is an expensive place to shop no matter how much money you spend trying to convince me that it's not.

    It isn't known as "Yuppie Central" for nothing. But hey, if you have more money than sense, shop there all day long.

    • No shit. I've tried to avoid shopping there ever since shortly after they bought up Wild Oats when their management discretely got in bed with Monsanto... and I'm proud to say that I haven't stepped foot inside one since they got bought up by Evil, Inc...

      • In my area we had a lovely little store called Cheese & Stuff, organic groceries, homeopathic remedies, trendy food to go. I liked the groceries if not the to go items. They got bought out by Wild Oats and we were promised that the location would stay open. Gone in no time flat. Didn't cry when Wild Oats got bought out.

  • Prices will be reduced by an average of 20 percent on the selected items.

    ... will now be called "80% Foods".

  • They really had a 20% margin to spare, or this is an April fool's joke?

    • They really had a 20% margin to spare, or this is an April fool's joke?

      There was a reason they were called Whole Paycheck. They really did have a 20% margin to spare, and then some.

      Unfortunately for them, this is a mistake. They can't move down market without losing the people who shopped there specifically because it was upmarket enough to keep the riff-raff out, and they can't move down market enough to pick up enough riff-raff to make up the difference. Unless they stop selling asparagus water. That'd help.

      • Cleaner stores have value. Aisles that aren't blocked with the shit of the day promotional displays have value. Stores with more adults than screaming crotch fruit have value. Location has value. Better delivery than Peapod has value.

        Since I'm buying for one and I already have Prime, Whole Foods delivery rocks. Peapod $60 minimum order, $9.95 delivery fee, plus tip vs. Whole Foods $35 minimum order with a $5 tip and no charge for delivery if I pick a 2 hour window.

        I still shop at the competitors for things

  • I know its April Fools Day. But I think someone hit the wrong key. +20% sounds more like Whole Foods.

    Is this like those furniture stores that will sell a dining table for $500 normal days. Then on holidays, they sell the same table as 50% off the 'MSRP' of $1500 for $750?

  • Wait that is what they told everyone when the purchased them. Prices did go down for about a month but then they went right back to full price. So what makes us think the 2nd time will stick?
  • I used to go to Whole Foods regularly. But, since I don't shop at Amazon, I haven't gone since the acquisition. Luckily, we have a Fresh Market near us for all of the special things that Whole Foods had.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by psergiu ( 67614 )

      For me it was the other way around - avid Amazon Shopper.
      Went to Whole Foods last month - all the reduced prices are ONLY available for Amazon Prime members - else everything is full price.
      All the banners in the store said that.
      Ok - i said to the cashier - i'm a Prime Member - give me the discounts.
      No - she said - you need to have "THE APP"
      Long story short - nobody in the store (like 3 employees in total) was able to get "THE APP" to show the magical QR code - so i ended up paying full price.
      Turns out that

    • Good for you. I have never gone to Whole Foods, nor do I plan to, even though I am a Prime member.

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