Five years ago, Amazon bought Whole Foods for $13.7 billion. Since then, there’s been a lot of changes, including a new CEO starting Sept. 1. It added a palm-scanning payment option, hundreds of cameras and sensors to enable checkout-free shopping, and a “dark store” devoted entirely to online orders. A reporter from CNBC tried out the new high-tech shopping experience and took a look at how prices and product selection have changed since Amazon took over the specialty grocer in 2017.
Amazon has opened 60 new locations, including one “dark store” entirely devoted to filling online orders. Yet Whole Foods still controls just over 1% of the grocery market, according to research firm Numerator, compared with Walmart’s 19% and Kroger’s 9%.
find out the key differences in the Whole Foods of today from the company that Amazon acquired in 2017.
The article deals up with the following topics by order:
- Evolution of “whole paycheck”
- Private label and keeping it local
- High-tech shopping
- Grocery store vs. fulfillment center
- Shifting footprint and future