How Amazon’s Whole Foods Acquisition May Impact Grocery in Canada

• July 18, 2017
• Topics:
  • Amazon Whole Foods

Online grocery has become a hot topic for Canadian CPG over the last few years, but the trend seemed to be that it wasn’t, at least for the foreseeable future, going to have much impact. That may just change with the recent Amazon acquisition of Whole Foods, which is expected to make waves in the Canadian CPG world.

According to Canadian Grocer, “Whole Foods gives the e-commerce giant (Amazon) a foothold in Canada’s grocery industry and could pressure supermarket chains to step up their game in an already competitive environment.”

Amazon has been engaged in the online grocery industry for several years now. It launched AmazonFresh, a grocery delivery and pickup service in the U.S., about 10 years ago, and started selling non-perishable food items to Canadians in 2013. Last year, it further added to its grocery offerings with Amazon Go, a checkout-free grocery store in Seattle, where customers can shop and leave the store without ever having to see a cashier or self-checkout system and all purchases are charged on their Amazon accounts.

According to Michael von Massow, an associate professor at the University of Guelph, thanks to the Whole Foods acquisition, this type of technology may soon be introduced to Canada.

Check out the article in full here: http://www.canadiangrocer.com/top-stories/headlines/how-the-amazon-whole-foods-deal-could-impact-canadian-grocery-73647.

What impact will this have on grocery in Canada? While Canadians currently have very few options for online grocery, such a move could mean major competition. Competitive prices may mean grocers have no choice but to slash their own prices to meet the demand. In the short-term, while Massow notes “it’s unlikely Amazon will steal customers from other Canadian grocers”, change is inevitable.

What are your thoughts on this? Are you concerned about what this new deal may bring to the table? How do you plan to compete?

At Marketsupport, we’re here to help you compete, no matter who the competition is. Get in touch with us today by calling 1-877-421-5081.