Posted on 06/19/2017 5:50:31 AM PDT by C19fan
With his $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon’s Jeff Bezos has made clear his determination to dominate every facet of mass retailing, likely at the cost of massive layoffs in the $800 billion supermarket sector. But this, if anything, understates the ambitions of America’s new ruling class, almost entirely based in San Francisco and Seattle, as it moves to take over industries from entertainment and transportation to energy and space exploration that once thrived and competed outside the reach of the oligarchy.
(Excerpt) Read more at thedailybeast.com ...
More taxes?
Are you a Democrat?
Amazon is merely the Sears & Roebuck or Montgomery Ward catalogs of the Internet age.
No, I don’t like Bezos’ political views, but last I checked, this is a free country.
A Conservative buying from Amazon faces the same moral dilemma as did early Christians purchasing less expensive meat in the market - less expensive because it had been offered to idols. Read Paul’s evaluation of the situation in 1 Corinthians 8.
The ones here in the Houston area are very modern and spacious. However, they are definitely over-priced. I do not see them as competition for regular grocers for that reason. It would be like saying Lexus is competition against Toyota Corollas. Also, they don't carry lots of things a person needs on a daily basis. One would have to shop at another store to get the rest of the things one needs. They do not carry the most recognizable brand names we are all familiar with.
One good thing I will say for them is that they came through after Hurricane Ike hit this area in 2008. Most of the grocery stores in my area were out of pretty much everything. Whole Foods was 100% in stock.
Kroger practically invented the retail grocery business; they’ve survived challenges before, including Wal-Mart’s invasion of their market.
In my neighborhood, Kroger moved from a stand-alone store to a new location in the middle of a shopping complex. They converted half of a failing K-Mart into a state-of-the-art grocery store, and sold their old building to a local church. Traffic in the new location has increased significantly, and I would assume sales are up as well. And the store is located only 1/2 mile from a very busy Wal-Mart Super Center. I can find anything in those stores that I could buy at Whole Foods, at a much better price.
Plenty of room in the grocery business for companies that know the business. Down in Texas, H-E-B has done very well, despite tough competition in the grocery sector. A few years ago, Wal-Mart held their annual meeting in Houston, and local store managers were “ordered” to tour an H-E-B location near the convention center, because senior management was extremely impressed with what the Texas chain has done.
Not sure what Bezos has in mind for Whole Foods, but it’s a sure bet the next generation of those stores will include some kind of delivery outlet for Amazon. He’d be better served finding a way to significantly cut prices at Whole Foods; the “whole paycheck” joke is pretty accurate and gimmicks like offering discounts to Amazon Prime customers won’t work very well with customers who need grab a few items for their evening meal. And most of them don’t want to pay the Prime subscription fee to save a little bit on “upscale” groceries.
Whole Foods sold out, laughing all the way to the bank
bezos is the only one hiring, so this stupid hatred won’t help you
The Internet has escaped fair taxes for a long time. It needs to be equitable. Putting all the brick and mortars at an unfair advantage will crush our economy. Amazon needs to pay every tax, assessment, insurance, etc., that every other company has to pay to do business in markets.
I see an anti-trust law suit against Amazon in their future.
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Long overdue.
I would love to see Trump take it to his Washington Post pal.
In the past, the Left claimed to hate corporations....The Left have become the Party of Corporate America.
He has done this by convincing investors that despite scant profits, the ample rewards of monopoly await.
This is where the flaw of these "information age" titans is exposed. They have plenty of great ideas and bring plenty of innovation to the marketplace, but the very nature of the industry makes it almost impossible to make any money. As one astute Wall Street investor once said, "I never like to invest in something that can be replicated in three days by a bunch of guys working in a garage somewhere."
If anything, Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods should raise a red flag for investors -- for the following reasons:
1. Amazon has been built as a "virtual retailer" with no storefronts, and yet it made a move like this to buy a "brick & mortar" company that operates very differently than the company's existing business model.
2. The company exists as a mass-market retailer with market penetration all over the globe, but it decided to acquire a high-end grocery chain with limited appeal to most consumers.
This move almost reeks of desperation on the part of Amazon -- or at least a real stretch.
The new “giants” are driven NOT by production at all but by technology, finance and gathering data on you.
Sounds like the only one I have been in, Jackson, WY. The last time I was passing through, I didn’t see it. Maybe they went under. The store we like which isn’t available where we live, is WINCO.
Wow, class warfare hyperbole much? Meanwhile Whole Foods is a pretty minor player in the grocery business and this is not going to lead to massive layoffs in the industry. The articles own numbers prove it, it’s an $800 billion industry and this is a $14 billion buy.
When Whole Foods got tagged with the moniker of “Whole Paycheck” by the millennial kids who were their target demographic...they were done.
They don’t have a monopoly on any commodity. With the Whole Foods purchase they now have about 2% of the grocery business. Not actually even a little bit scary.
Amazon is not killing retail...they are killing themselves.
When I walk into the Mercruiser dealer and want a specific part that IMHO they should have as stock, and they reply with “we can order it...week to 10 days”, I say “I can order it too and have it in two days”. If I wanted it in two to ten days I would have oredered it myself, I want/need it now.
THe lack of inventory is a tax issue as inventory is a taxable asset.
Not really.
If Trump allows this to happen, Bezos will operate Whole Foods at a loss just to drive his competitors out of business.
Most grocery chains operate at a 2-3% markup, Whole Foods is more like 6%, so he can cut prices without breaking a sweat.
This is literally a guy with so much cash he doesn’t know what to do with it, he already is attacking the right on a daily basis with fake news from the Washington Post (another entity operating at a loss).
Amazon needs to be slapped down HARD.
the overnight selloff of kroger, et.al. after the announcement was a gross overreaction. Whole Foods has been in SERIOUS trouble due to over-expanding while facing BIG increases in healthy food competition from regional grocers like Sprouts and increased healthy alternatives added by Kroger, Safeway, and even Walmart. It remains to be seen if amazon is any good at turning around failing niche grocery store chains that cater to rich people.
That would appear to be the business plan for Sprouts. I like them. It’s a small, compact store where I can find what I need quickly, and get in and out. I don’t have to pass aisles and aisles of stuff I don’t buy at all, or at a grocery story.
“Does this mean that Amazon sales will now require sales tax in any state with a Whole Foods?”
that’s a good question. when amazon started charging sales tax in colorado, i started to shop around for bigger ticket items, buying from newegg, et. al, and buying from amazon affiliates that fulfilled out of amazon warehouses but don’t charge sales tax.
in the mean time, i buy relatively inexpensive stuff from amazon with free 2-day shipping. in other words, amazon now gets the dregs of my business with high shipping costs, while i direct my gravy to others. F amazon.
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