As if On Cue, Amazon Cuts Prices at Whole Foods

For months I’ve been outlining my Bezos Law (see here, here, here, and here), which states that any industry Amazon (and more specifically Jeff Bezos) enters, will see prices reduced. Now, as if on cue, Amazon has announced it is lowering prices at Whole Foods. Amazon will formally take control of the grocery chain on Monday.

Once again, my Bezos Law persists. David Shepardson and Lisa Baertlein report for Reuters:

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The planned price cuts would have been a tough sell to Whole Foods’ investors, who had grown used to fat profits from the upscale chain, but are more in line with Amazon’s broader strategy of sacrificing short-term profit for long-term market dominance.

“Amazon is more focused on driving volume and improving service at the expense of profit margins,” said Sebastian. “Long-term, this strategy works because the absolute profit dollars can still be significant.”

Amazon’s willingness to take lower profit margins ups the ante in the increasingly costly grocery price war.

“In some cases grocery retailers have had to invest between $500 million to $1 billion in order to reduce prices to a level that retained customers and resulted in a net increase in customers,” said Brittain Ladd, who until earlier this year was a senior manager working to globally roll out AmazonFresh, Amazon’s grocery delivery service.

E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

E.J. Smith is Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. His focus at all times is on preparing clients and readers for “Times Like These.” E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zildjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart (RIP) of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@yoursurvivalguy.com To sign up for my free monthly Survive & Thrive letter, click here.