A year ago this week, the retail world changed forever when Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey announced ecommerce behemoth Amazon.com was buying the struggling natural products giant. Here's a report card. Next month, Amazon will reach its first anniversary owning Whole Foods Market. How’s it doing so far? As...
“Dr. Drew” Pinsky, the board-certified internist and celebrity doc, has a new app called “Heal.” You can use it on your computer, tablet or phone to book an appointment with a medical doctor from an independent local practice to come to your home or office within a two-hour window of...
One of the biggest “Aha!” moments from WholeFoods Magazine’s 40th Annual Retailer Survey, was the jump in marketing spending reported by independent natural organic retailers. In prior years’ surveys, independents told us they relied heavily on word-of-mouth to drive sales increases, often spending less than 1% on marketing and advertising.
What a tumultuous year in the food business! On April 10, 2017, activist investor Jana Partners announces an 8.8% stake in Whole Foods Market and pressures the retailer to sell after a long string of declines in quarterly same-store sales; a key retail metric. Before the end of that month,...
At the recent SENPA/SOHO natural products trade show, we had the chance to sit with Aaron Gottlieb, founder and owner of Native Sun Natural Foods Market, which has three stores in Jacksonville, FL. Here are excerpts from our conversation. WholeFoods Magazine (WF): Please tell us a little about your stores.
Well, that didn’t take long. “Day One,” of the Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods Market on Aug. 28, 2017, saw significant—and reportedly permanent—price cuts in Whole Foods’ stores on everyday market basket items like milk, eggs and bananas. Plus, the chain cut prices on key fresh proteins, fresh produce, and...
There’s an old saying, “Youth is wasted on the young.” As an independent natural products retailer, you probably wish you could hire someone who possesses the wisdom that comes with age, but with the back muscles of a high school wrestler. Because retail is a physical sport, you must recruit...
Watching Wall Street hammer major food-retailing stocks immediately after Amazon’s June announcement to buy Whole Foods Market, I can understand why you — an independent natural products retailer — may have felt a shiver down your spine. Since then, those grocery stocks have recovered most of their losses as investors...
Does Amazon care what it sells? Does Whole Foods Markets care what it sells? The opposing answers to these two questions—“No” and “Yes” respectively—are at the heart of the problem Amazon CEO, Jeff Bezos, now hopes to solve. Put another way, can Bezos make fresh, organic, free-range filet mignon behave...
In January, we published the main findings from the 2017 – 39th Annual Retailer Survey by WholeFoods Magazine. Hundreds of independent natural products retailers from across the U.S. participated, representing $1.59 billion in sales and over 2.5 million square feet of retail space. It was by far the largest response...
