Two Years After Amazon Deal, Whole Foods Is Just $10 Cheaper
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Amazon.com’s $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market spawned endless speculation about how the internet giant would change the upscale grocer. Two years later, we’ve got an answer: Ten bucks.
That’s how much the cost of a basket of goods has gone down for Prime members, according to Gordon Haskett Research Advisors, which has tracked one store in Princeton, N.J., nine separate times since the deal closed in August 2017. And those price cuts primarily have come in produce and dairy, while other items largely have stayed the same or, in the case of bread and snacks, even increased.
“Many of the aggressive price actions from Whole Foods have been more bark than bite,” Gordon Haskett analyst Chuck Grom said.
(Dania Maxwell/Bloomberg News)
The shopping list of 106 commonly purchased items, branded and private-label, was $404.08 in August 2017 and is now $394.10 for Prime members, Gordon Haskett found in a report released July 10. That represents savings of about 2.5%, much less than the double-digit price cuts on certain items such as avocados and apples that occurred in stores to celebrate the deal closing.
Amazon’s Prime customers pay $119 a year for speedier delivery and reduced prices on some Whole Foods items. For non-Prime members, today’s basket is about $8 cheaper.
