Since August 28, Amazon is the owner of Whole Foods. Several media reported about massive price reductions on the first day of the new ownership and that this could strain the organic supply chain.
Price offers for organic products in WholeFoods´ stores are more than 40% cheaper under the leadership of Amazon. The online retail giant announced that it will “make high-quality natural and organic food affordable for everyone”. Orange posters “Whole Foods + Amazon” are listing the old price, the new price and “More to come”. Organic apples, for example, are price-reduced from $3.49 a pound to $1.99 a pound; the price of some bananas was slashed to 49 cents per pound from 79 cents; organic rotisserie chicken fell to $9.99 each from $13.99.
According to Marketplace.org, analysts expect the price strategy will happen partly through a ramp-up of private label products.”The Whole Foods 365 brand will be available to millions of households that probably have not been exposed to it before.” Also, it could “spell trouble for competing name-brand organic food makers. If there’s a run on a particular ingredient small organic companies need for a product, it could put those companies in a difficult spot by threatening the supply chain,” marketplace.org explains.
www.bio-markt.info (German) and www.organic-market.info (English) are online magazines for organic trade
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