How Amazon Changed Whole Foods, Five Years Later

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. We tried out the new high-tech shopping experience and take 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%.

Next week, Whole Foods gets a new CEO for the first time since its founding in 1980. Operating chief Jason Buechel steps into the lead role on Sept. 1, succeeding colorful, polarizing co-founder John Mackey, who was once described as a “right-wing hippie.”

“When you have the kind of culture clash that I imagined John Mackey and Amazon had, it’s really impressive that John stayed around in a leadership position as long as he did,” said Jason Goldberg, chief commerce strategy officer at advertising firm Publicis. “It surprised me.”

Buechel takes over at a pivotal time for Amazon, which is jumping deeper into the world of in-person retail, with a focus on groceries. Revenue at its physical stores climbed 12% in the second quarter, while online sales dropped. That marks a change from the prior few years, when Amazon’s physical stores lagged the overall retail business. Outside of the food business, Amazon recently shut 68 stores, including all Amazon Books, 4-star and Pop Up shops.

Watch the video above to find out the key differences in the Whole Foods of today from the company that Amazon acquired in 2017.

Chapters:
1:28 Evolution of “whole paycheck”
4:14 Private label and keeping it local
7:39 High-tech shopping
11:47 Grocery store vs. fulfillment center
13:49 Shifting footprint and future

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How Amazon Changed Whole Foods, Five Years Later

[sjmullen]

I worked at Whole Foods as a bread baker when Amazon bought Whole Foods. Within six months, instead of making the bread from scratch every day, they shipped us frozen bread made in Austin, and all I did was put in on trays and warm it up. The quality went way down, and the prices went way up. Don't be fooled into thinking their bread is baked fresh every day, because that is a lie.

[respectluis]

From an employee perspective, who had worked at Whole Foods prior to the acquisition from Amazon and then after, there has been a noticeable difference. Whole Foods used to care more about their products, customers and overall setting but since Amazon took over, it's all about metrics and quantity over quality.

[bettilupia]

I really miss how whole foods used to hire local artists to design their signage, it made every store unique and gave the small town store feel. I worked at whole foods when amazon came and took over and everything that made whole foods unique went away.

[vicstemler]

I worked for wholefoods for 4.5 years, right after amazon bought them. It got so much worse. Huge turnover and miserable employees.

[mitchelltrio]

It’s interesting that this video goes out of its way to mention that the standards for food sold there since Amazon took over have improved, since my sister, an avid and longtime Whole Foods customer, just told me recently that she had to stop buying many products at the hot foods bar and in other areas because products that were formerly made with olive oil are now being made with canola oil, which is definitely a step in the wrong direction from a nutritional standpoint.

[nyc]

I work at Whole Foods. The turnover rate has gotten much higher the past few years and seems to only get worse. Most new hires at my store quit within a few weeks or even after just their first shift. Recently a new hire during their first shift asked to go to the bathroom and never came back. 😂

[marley]

As a WF employee: you just work for Amazon, whole foods is not whole foods anymore. The prices keep increasing, but no raises for employees and they have a ridiculously harsh attendance policy that makes the turnover rate unnecessarily high. Don't shop there, go to a cheaper or locally owned grocer and support your community

[englishrose]

As a long-time WFM shopper (before and after Amazon bought WFM), I disagree with much of this. Amazon has steadily been getting rid of organic products and swapping them out for conventional (including in the house 365 brand). They've drastically reduced variety - which as a shopper with allergies, this really matters. Plus, it was a specialty store and I came there for those unique items that no one else stocked. (such as organic macadamia nuts). They got rid of bulk organic spices, and then they got rid of them in the packets. They're steadily replacing vegan/vegetarian friendly products and replacing them with meat or Keto stuff and - given that my store is in the vegan capital of the USA - that is not okay. Before Amazon bought them, I knew employees for a long time and they began to feel like friends and a small local grocery store. Since WFM was bought-- my store which at the purchase time was the highest producing in my region--employee turnover has been so fast that it often feels like new faces every week. They also got rid of items that you don't buy often, but you come back for repeatedly, with their "Stock to Shelf" policy. There were many products that I had bought for years that disappeared, and frankly, it made me mad. As for prices going down - that's a bunch of crap. WFM 365 brand pasta sauce was $1.69. It's now $3.99, with similar price changes all over the store, and my budget has doubled, so I don't know where they got the 30% drop from. I'm a Prime member, so I do get the discounts, which most of the time are like regular sales. I disagree that local providers have not been swapped out for larger contracts - in the soda aisle, for instance, they've slowly removed organic and unique and local products and are replacing it with a wall of 365 soda. I can go to Safeway for that. Personally, I'm not a fan of the Amazon shoppers - they drive around not regarding or courteous to the customers in front of them, and sometimes you have to avoid getting run over by them. Produce quality has also deteriorated and there's less variety and less organic. Honestly, I used to shop WFM exclusively, and now I shop other stores and if something like the old WFM came around, I would leave entirely.

[Greenr]

Selling WF to AMAZ is like selling Borders bookstore to Kmart. The energy shift in both stores before and after was immense. The distinct characteristics made them so unique and attractive become merely shadows of their former selves after the transactions. It is like moving a child from a loving home to a group care.

[CatEyedGoddess]

I use to work at WFM before AMZ and I loved it. It literally was the anti corporation, corporation. We never did commercials, definitely supported local farmers, ranchers, businesses, artist etc. They always paid us well, we could vote leadership on and off our team, wooden nickels ( worth $5) were often given out, free grocery items and swag, field trips to local suppliers, field trips to international suppliers all paid for by WFM, quarterly bonuses, the meat was always expensive but that’s because of the animals welfare standards they had. Now, it’s just a regular corporation, so sad but corporate America always wins. At least I knew WF when it was amazing.

[MintyMoni]

just wanna say, they really messed up selling Whole Foods to Amazon. I worked there right after the merger happened, and my coworkers who stayed after the transition said they were extremely disappointed. They started having people work 3 different stations instead of just one (so literally one person running pizza, deli counter, and sandwich) and the quality dropped as well because how can you handle all of that and maintain the same quality as 3-4 workers?

[meetmeinva]

Amazon ruined it in so many ways. The “local” feel that management was able to give each store has been eliminated. The stores used to be an “experience”; it’s now very cold and impersonal. The “bakery” used to evoke an old school bakery by its design but now it’s self-serve. There are fewer “Fresh” items there also.

[Marroky-.]

As a wholefoods employee for more that 5 year I can say that change that amazon has made into wholefoods has been bad, we lost a lot of out good benefits that we used to have the culture has changed and it just has turned more stressful, the morale and culture has changed, I'm not going to lie amazon has bring some good stuff into wholefoods but it's hasn't been the same.

[lysettcuervo]

Amazon doesn’t understand that this customer market that shops at whole foods isnt concerned about cheap prices they are concerned about organic/healthy & they know & understand that they will have to pay more.

[RealKungFu]

Is this a sponsored ad for Amazon and Whole Foods?

[ninjanerdstudent]

If you have a local non-chain grocery store within 10 miles from home, I strongly urge you to shop there. The fruits and vegetables are so affordable.

[chrisparish]

They forgot to mention all the ways in which they’ve made it a nightmare for employees.

[BOutdoorsman]

Technology doesn't always solve problems; sometimes it only causes more. Miss the hometown feel of Whole Foods.

[Countraccoonula]

My farmers market (called Harry's) was later bought by whole foods. I didn't mind it, I thought whole foods was cool had great produce and health food. Every time I went to whole foods I wondered what new cool thing I would find. Now it just feels like a target that sells vegan food. Thanks Amazon.

[lmurphy]

I would not go into a store where hundreds of cameras were tracking my every move. My local farm shop doesn't have a single one.