topic Re: Amazon in Community Chat

Amazon

SeaMaiden — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:25:43 GMT

The Amazon-Whole Foods era of grocery just claimed its first victims.... Tops Markets and Southeastern Grocers.....

"I think we’re going to see a lot of chains fail,” said Phil Lempert, an independent food retail analyst at Supermarket Guru and the author of several books about the grocery business. “There are some retailers who have innovated and stayed ahead of the trends. But they have been the exception.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/the-amazon-whole-foods-era-of-grocery-just-claimed-its-first-victims/ar-BBKyxlq?li=BBnb7Kz

Re: Amazon

Noel7 — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:35:45 GMT

It sounds like they did it to themselves:

"Tops, a 56-year-old chain with 169 stores in New York, Pennsylvania and Vermont, filed for bankruptcy late last month following years of mounting debt. Southeastern, which owns more than 600 Winn-Dixie, Harvey’s and BI-LO stores across seven states in the Southeast, announced a refinancing agreement on March 15 and says it will file for bankruptcy by April."

I don't like SF grocery stores, we have mainly Safeway and Lucky and they are so behind the times.

I see people here from the East coast talk about their stores and they sound so much better.

The Bay Area is known for fine food and leading foodie trends, but the stores are the pits.

Re: Amazon

cherry — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:38:40 GMT

I'm worried about my nephew. He manages a Whole Foods and I read they are dumping loads of people ,since Amazon took over

He has a couple of children and I hate to see him looking for work. So far its OK, but I am very leery

Re: Amazon

QVCkitty1 — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:40:59 GMT

This is bad news for my area. It's not that I love Tops , but if we lose our one remaining store we are left with Walmart. One grocery for our 3 small towns, and no competition.

Re: Amazon

eddyandme — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:47:23 GMT

Well, grocery prices keep rising and rising! This will help the consumer. Hopefully, the chains will merge, innovate, and take control of their pricing eventually in order to maintain their share of the market.

Don't have access to whole foods where I live. I shop at our little town market for quality, convenience and customer service. Though much smaller than competitors in this area, prices may be a little higher, but I'm willing to buy there to keep businesses in town along with jobs. Plus this family-owned business does much to give back to the townspeople. I guess it's not only costs that factor in when shopping. Satisfaction, trust and friendliness are what lures me in. And, apparently others, too, 'cause that market is always crowded - not only from this town but the surrounding towns and city.

So, exceptional retailers will keep their share of the market, I'm sure.

Re: Amazon

SeaMaiden — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:50:14 GMT

@eddyandmewrote:
Well, grocery prices keep rising and rising! This will help the consumer. Hopefully, the chains will merge, innovate, and take control of their pricing eventually in order to maintain their share of the market.

Don't have access to whole foods where I live. I shop at our little town market for quality, convenience and customer service. Though much smaller than competitors in this area, prices may be a little higher, but I'm willing to buy there to keep businesses in town along with jobs. Plus this family-owned business does much to give back to the townspeople. I guess it's not only costs that factor in when shopping. Satisfaction, trust and friendliness are what lures me in. And, apparently others, too, 'cause that market is always crowded - not only from this town but the surrounding towns and city.

So, exceptional retailers will keep their share of the market, I'm sure.

@eddyandme I think the stores that survive Amazon will need to prove to the public that they can serve the consumer well, be competitive and carry what the consumer needs. I hope so.....

Re: Amazon

Spurt — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:52:59 GMT

@eddyandmewrote:
Well, grocery prices keep rising and rising! This will help the consumer. Hopefully, the chains will merge, innovate, and take control of their pricing eventually in order to maintain their share of the market.

Don't have access to whole foods where I live. I shop at our little town market for quality, convenience and customer service. Though much smaller than competitors in this area, prices may be a little higher, but I'm willing to buy there to keep businesses in town along with jobs. Plus this family-owned business does much to give back to the townspeople. I guess it's not only costs that factor in when shopping. Satisfaction, trust and friendliness are what lures me in. And, apparently others, too, 'cause that market is always crowded - not only from this town but the surrounding towns and city.

So, exceptional retailers will keep their share of the market, I'm sure.

The LESS competition will definitely NOT help the consumer and cause prices to rise..................

Re: Amazon

Nonametoday — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 20:55:10 GMT

You better watch Amazon. Their prices are dodgy. Some of their items I have found in other stores, not just WalMart, to be 2 to 10 times the price at Amazon as other stores. Some items are the same, right below, or right above but too many are way higher than other stores. I will NEVER trust Amazon grocery shopping.

They are trying to take over the world. We are quickly become a no-competition country and when that happens, bad things happen.

Re: Amazon

eddyandme — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:00:09 GMT

@Spurtwrote:
@eddyandmewrote:
Well, grocery prices keep rising and rising! This will help the consumer. Hopefully, the chains will merge, innovate, and take control of their pricing eventually in order to maintain their share of the market.

Don't have access to whole foods where I live. I shop at our little town market for quality, convenience and customer service. Though much smaller than competitors in this area, prices may be a little higher, but I'm willing to buy there to keep businesses in town along with jobs. Plus this family-owned business does much to give back to the townspeople. I guess it's not only costs that factor in when shopping. Satisfaction, trust and friendliness are what lures me in. And, apparently others, too, 'cause that market is always crowded - not only from this town but the surrounding towns and city.

So, exceptional retailers will keep their share of the market, I'm sure.
The LESS competition will definitely NOT help the consumer and cause prices to rise..................

True, @Spurt. However, if markets want to compete they can merge their buying power, cut back on waste (something that Amazon is very good at), and 'court' the consumer through innovations. Competition spurs the imagination: if the current supermarkets in your area 'get it' and do it right, prices may even be lowered. It's a little shake-up and some of these major comglomerates are gonna have to pony up, imho.

Re: Amazon

Noel7 — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:04:53 GMT

@Nonametodaywrote:
You better watch Amazon. Their prices are dodgy. Some of their items I have found in other stores, not just WalMart, to be 2 to 10 times the price at Amazon as other stores. Some items are the same, right below, or right above but too many are way higher than other stores. I will NEVER trust Amazon grocery shopping.

They are trying to take over the world. We are quickly become a no-competition country and when that happens, bad things happen.

The prices you find on Amazon can vary because they aren't Amazon's, they are from second or third party sellers. You have to pay attention to see who the seller is. Stick with Amazon selling and it will be a better price. @Nonametoday

Re: Amazon

Nonametoday — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:07:37 GMT

@Noel7wrote:
@Nonametodaywrote:
You better watch Amazon. Their prices are dodgy. Some of their items I have found in other stores, not just WalMart, to be 2 to 10 times the price at Amazon as other stores. Some items are the same, right below, or right above but too many are way higher than other stores. I will NEVER trust Amazon grocery shopping.

They are trying to take over the world. We are quickly become a no-competition country and when that happens, bad things happen.

The prices you find on Amazon can vary because they aren't Amazon's, they are from second or third party sellers. You have to pay attention to see who the seller is. Stick with Amazon selling and it will be a better price. @Nonametoday

Beware of Amazon. If Amazon is allowing it, they will do it. The items I am talking about were from Amazon, not from any of the competitive sellers.

Re: Amazon

Spurt — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:18:22 GMT

@eddyandmewrote:
@Spurtwrote:
@eddyandmewrote:
Well, grocery prices keep rising and rising! This will help the consumer. Hopefully, the chains will merge, innovate, and take control of their pricing eventually in order to maintain their share of the market.

Don't have access to whole foods where I live. I shop at our little town market for quality, convenience and customer service. Though much smaller than competitors in this area, prices may be a little higher, but I'm willing to buy there to keep businesses in town along with jobs. Plus this family-owned business does much to give back to the townspeople. I guess it's not only costs that factor in when shopping. Satisfaction, trust and friendliness are what lures me in. And, apparently others, too, 'cause that market is always crowded - not only from this town but the surrounding towns and city.

So, exceptional retailers will keep their share of the market, I'm sure.
The LESS competition will definitely NOT help the consumer and cause prices to rise..................
True, @Spurt. However, if markets want to compete they can merge their buying power, cut back on waste (something that Amazon is very good at), and 'court' the consumer through innovations. Competition spurs the imagination: if the current supermarkets in your area 'get it' and do it right, prices may even be lowered. It's a little shake-up and some of these major comglomerates are gonna have to pony up, imho.

@eddyandme

I am an old veteran of grocerty store wars....our major chain here, HEB, drove out all the national grocery stores....the only few to compete are Super Walmarts/ a few SuperTargets and Costcos (for me and a lot of folks the membership fee isnt worth the savings)---and 2 Trader Joes .....

To keep a step ahead of Wally Word (the only real competition even thoug HEB has 3/4 share of the consumers) are their innovations such as check out yourself apps, grocery pickup and grocery delivery....and Ive also noticed a steady increase in prices lately......(probably to pay for thes innovations and stay on step with Amazon).....So with no real competition were a bit stuck........

Re: Amazon

Spurt — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:21:41 GMT

@Noel7wrote:
@Nonametodaywrote:
You better watch Amazon. Their prices are dodgy. Some of their items I have found in other stores, not just WalMart, to be 2 to 10 times the price at Amazon as other stores. Some items are the same, right below, or right above but too many are way higher than other stores. I will NEVER trust Amazon grocery shopping.

They are trying to take over the world. We are quickly become a no-competition country and when that happens, bad things happen.

The prices you find on Amazon can vary because they aren't Amazon's, they are from second or third party sellers. You have to pay attention to see who the seller is. Stick with Amazon selling and it will be a better price. @Nonametoday

@Nonametoday

Your right, I posted an article from one of the financial publications.......

The article explained how Amazon changes thousands of items throughout the day and its not just third party vendors. And the article mentioned that they also have consumers thinking that they are the lowest so consumers dont comparison shop. But in reality they might not be---and again its not 3rd party vendors doing this either......

So for example if Wal Mart put an item on sale, they will lower price on that item and then raise a price on a different item.....And they do that with thousands of items while most stores just do that on a couple hundred items.......

Oh BTW Amazon is thinking of going into banking next.........

Re: Amazon

Nonametoday — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 21:30:26 GMT

@Spurtwrote:
@Noel7wrote:
@Nonametodaywrote:
You better watch Amazon. Their prices are dodgy. Some of their items I have found in other stores, not just WalMart, to be 2 to 10 times the price at Amazon as other stores. Some items are the same, right below, or right above but too many are way higher than other stores. I will NEVER trust Amazon grocery shopping.

They are trying to take over the world. We are quickly become a no-competition country and when that happens, bad things happen.

The prices you find on Amazon can vary because they aren't Amazon's, they are from second or third party sellers. You have to pay attention to see who the seller is. Stick with Amazon selling and it will be a better price. @Nonametoday

@Nonametoday

Your right, I posted an article from one of the financial publications.......

The article explained how Amazon changes thousands of items throughout the day and its not just third party vendors. And the article mentioned that they also have consumers thinking that they are the lowest so consumers dont comparison shop. But in reality they might not be---and again its not 3rd party vendors doing this either......

So for example if Wal Mart put an item on sale, they will lower price on that item and then raise a price on a different item.....And they do that with thousands of items while most stores just do that on a couple hundred items.......

Oh BTW Amazon is thinking of going into banking next.........

I have heard that so next the Gates and Bezos own the world bank. Not happy about world-wide dictatorship.

Re: Amazon

puttypiesmom — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 22:29:59 GMT

I used to enjoy the guacamole that Whole Food prepares and there was once three different sizes to choose from but now all they sell is the large and it's always over $9 and unless you have a large family it will go bad after it's exposed to air. I asked the supervisor why they don't have the small and medium sizes anymore and was told a real crock of bs, that those small and medium containers are no longer available to the store. I buy their frozen organic vegetables and fruit and a couple other items and not much else.

Re: Amazon

GCR18 — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 22:33:39 GMT

I don't like to see businesses fold. Unfortunately, those chains have been declining for years. Businesses can't afford to stand still and not make upgrades to the stores and the customer experience.

As for Amazon, I agree that you need to watch their prices. I don't shop Amazon because they are cheap. I shop there because they deliver quick. I know the prices are inflated to cover the free shipping. If I really need something quick though, I go to Jet.

Re: Amazon

Sweet_Serenity — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 22:48:21 GMT

Relocated to Florida..Love!! Publix & WholeFoods.

Re: Amazon

Lilysmom — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 23:10:47 GMT

@Nonametoday, I agree with you. I am careful when I shop and a lot of times Amazon is way more expensive, They are not my go to and I enjoy shopping there but I always compare prices. LM

Re: Amazon

Lilysmom — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 23:11:38 GMT

@Noel7, a good observation! LM

Re: Amazon

Cakers3 — Thu, 22 Mar 2018 23:42:53 GMT

@puttypiesmomwrote:
I used to enjoy the guacamole that Whole Food prepares and there was once three different sizes to choose from but now all they sell is the large and it's always over $9 and unless you have a large family it will go bad after it's exposed to air. I asked the supervisor why they don't have the small and medium sizes anymore and was told a real crock of bs, that those small and medium containers are no longer available to the store. I buy their frozen organic vegetables and fruit and a couple other items and not much else.

@puttypiesmom I don't know about your Whole Foods but the ones in my area have been steadily declining since Amazon took over.

We also buy the frozen veggies and fruit but the prices have been creeping up-a can of the 365 Whole Foods brand green beans is up to $1.49!!

We have also been missing some favorite 365 brands in other areas.

Even the bakery items have been slowly going downhill.

I know that they do change suppliers from time to time because one of their canned items was out of stock for a long time while a new vendor was found.

That could be the issue with your guacamole-that they either changed vendors, the vendor doesn't offer those sizes anymore for $$ reasons or you were handed bs. LOL