Amazon slashes some prices at Whole Foods
New owner keeps promise as acquisition takes effect
NEW YORK - Amazon kept its promise Monday to lower prices on some key items at Whole Foods Market, on its first official day as the new owner of the chain long known as high-quality but high-cost.
Some examples from a midtown Manhattan store Monday:
Whole Trade bananas: 49 cents per pound, from 79 cents.
Organic Fuji apples: $1.99 per
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pound, compared to $3.49 previously.
Organic large brown eggs: $3.99 per dozen, a cut from $4.29.
“Animal-welfare-rated” 85 percent lean ground beef: $4.99 per pound, from $6.99.
Organic rotisserie chicken: $9.99 each, compared to $13.99 before.
Whole Foods has for years been mocked as “Whole Paycheck” for its high prices, but Amazon’s $13.7 billion acquisition of the natural-foods chain, which closed Monday morning, was already bringing about changes.
Wall Street is paying close attention, including Moody’s retail analyst Charlie O’Shea.
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The price cuts are “the first salvo in what we believe will be a period of heavy promotions throughout the grocery industry” as competitors try to figure out how to keep their own customers loyal while making money, O’Shea said.
Amazon has also begun using Whole Foods to sell non-grocery items.
A large sign at the front of one of the Manhattan stores read “Farm Fresh/ Pick of the season” to advertise a sale on the Amazon Echo and the Amazon Echo Dot.
The two-way wireless smart speakers were going for $99.99 (down from $179.99) and $44.99 (down from $49.99), respectively.