Today marks the closing of Amazon.com’s (NASDAQ:AMZN) $13.7 billionacquisition of Whole Foods Market (NASDAQ:WFM) , and the e-commerce giant has already implemented major changes in the upscale grocery chain.
One of most noticeable changes customers will find is the arrival of Amazon’s Echo smart speakers, now available for sale in their local Whole Foods. The company, shown in the tweets below, has cleverly advertised the devices like one of Whole Foods’ “Pick of the Season,” and the Echo and Echo Dot are selling for the same price as what you’d find on Amazon.com.
It's real, y'all. @WholeFoods @amazon pic.twitter.com/QiRBm2ulHe
— Lauren Thomas (@laurenthomasx3) August 28, 2017
It's official pic.twitter.com/sJcCJNrt5b
— Jason Del Rey (@DelRey) August 28, 2017
Many have wondered how Amazon would integrate its Alexa-powered technology in Whole Foods stores, and selling Echo devices seems like a logical start.
In addition to offering its Echo speakers in stores, Amazon has also been cutting prices on many of Whole Foods’ staples grocery items. These include everything from organic fuji apples, organic rotisserie chicken to bananas and organic avocados. Avocados, for example, fell to $1.99 each from $2.79, which falls in line with most other supermarket chains.
According to Bloomberg, the marked down items were displayed with orange signs that said “Whole Foods + Amazon,” listing the old price and the new price, and the phrase “More to come…”.
High prices have always held back Whole Foods in some way, earning the company the nickname “Whole Paycheck” and making it easier for other grocery chains like Walmart (NYSE:WMT) , Kroger (NYSE:KR) , and Aldi to begin building their own successful organic and natural food reputations. But with Amazon now at the helm, Whole Foods can start bringing back those customers it may have lost over the years.
"This is just the beginning – Amazon and Whole Foods Market plan to offer more in-store benefits and lower prices for customers over time as the two companies integrate logistics and point-of-sale and merchandising systems," Amazon and Whole Foods said in a press release last Thursday.
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