Amazon (AMZN), the massive e-commerce company publicly announced its intentions to close on an almost $14 billion dollar deal with organic grocery chain Whole Foods (WFM). The expensive deal values the eco-minded retailer at $42 a share, which is a 27% increase from where the stock was trading on Thursday. The deal is set to be finalized in the second half of 2017.
Why such a big move?
Many of the answers surrounding the nature of the move have only been speculative. However, it can be surmised that such a large transaction showcases Amazon CEO Jef Bezos' ever-increasing interest in the physical grocery market and the different ways his company can enhance customer shopping experiences.
This is definitely an interesting strategy for the multi-market giant since consistent engagement with brick-and-mortar stores have been on the decline, mostly due to the shift towards online shopping — a societal shift Amazon played a large role in popularizing. In recent years, the profits of large companies such as Target, Kroger, and Walmart have all been negatively affected by the steady increase in customer demand for reliable and convenient e-commerce services.
This announcement comes only a few months after Amazon announced the construction of multiple Amazon Go stores — prototype brick-and-mortar locations linked to the Amazon ecosystem. This is just one of the company's latest developments, as they already have a grocery delivery service called Amazon Fresh, and are working on a "Buy Online, Pick Up In Store" service as well.
It's also worth noting that, over the past few years, Whole Foods has received a lot of pressure from shareholders to sell to another entity, specifically a Grocery Chain. These calls for action have been due to the chain's niche market status, leading to perpetually poor financial performance.
What does this mean for Whole Foods?
Whole Foods will still operate under their original name, which, over the years, has become increasingly synonymous with organic and eco-friendly products. The grocery chain's headquarters will also remain in Austin, TX and John Mackey will remain onboard as the company's CEO.
Business analysts are keeping an eye on how customers will react to the, currently unconfirmed, yet almost inevitable, merger of services since Amazon has made a name for itself based on great value and competitive prices, while Whole Foods has a reputation for selling their organic products at higher prices seen as undesirable by many.
