Amazon Whole Foods: When E-Commerce Met Brick-and-Mortar and Saved the Brand of Conscientious Capitalism

Abstract

Many successful brick and mortar retail establishments lose business today to online sales, creating an important marketplace trend and confronting owners, managers, and stakeholders with new ways to adapt. Whole Foods Market represents this trend perhaps better than most and illustrates the complexity of marketing and branding issues in the organic food industry. Whole Foods announced in 2017 its sixth consecutive quarter of falling same-store sales and revised its outlook for the year. Whole Foods also had suffered from a combination of operational pricing scandals, public FDA issues, and a perceptional problem centered on corporate ethics that is counter to its branding. On June 17, 2017, Amazon’s $13.7 billion cash purchase of Whole Foods appears to have reversed the fortune of the company. This paper investigates the impact of Amazon’s acquisition on branding, reputation, and appeal to Whole Foods’ stakeholders.