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While I do understand that Amazon has been a force to reckon with, they are not as infallible as some speak about them and I just don't buy the "retail is dead because of e-commerce" jargon, whether we're talking general merchandise or groceries.
Online sales only account for 10% of retail sales (Source: https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/ECOMPCTSA). Up to 50% of online sales are tied to companies with physical stores (Lowe's.com, Walmart.com, JCPenny.com, etc.). eBook sales are flat and possibly declining. Yes, traditional malls are struggling, but not just because of Amazon or general online shopping. Open-air centers, outlet malls, and especially discount stores like Ross, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, Nordstrom Rack, and Saks Off Fifth are having a field day right now. Basically, Americans want low prices and they want to park next to the store where they want to shop instead of walking 3/4 of a mile inside of a mall to go to the store of their choice. Some popular online-only stores are opening up physical stores or partnering with existing physical stores to increase their sales (Casper Mattress with West Elm and potentially Target, Lululemon, etc.) It looks like Amazon realized that it needs physical stores in order to stay in the game long-term. The future is what people in the industry call omnichannel, having a strong physical and online presence.
We're all just speculating about the future, but this article brings up a good point.(Amazon’s purchase of Whole Foods is about the last mile problem.). It's cheaper for the likes of Walmart, JCP, etc. to ship an online order to their stores for you to pick up than to mail it to your house. That's why Walmart is even offering discounts on some products when you ship to store. Walmart is already at an advantage given that 90% of Americans live within 15 minutes of a Walmart.
Remember that Whole Foods is a niche market where most shoppers have adopted a specific food philosophy. Whole Foods is also not a "build in every type of neighborhood" kind of store. I could see this being really damaging if they bought a national conventional brand like Kroger or Safeway. To a regular consumer like me, this only looks like a game changer for certain neighborhoods in mid to large metro areas. But who knows...
Nobody is saying Amazon is infallible or that retail is dead because of e-commerce.
Amazon bought WFM in order to gain a vast distribution network of logistical operations, warehouses and more than 460 physical stores worldwide. Scale, logistics, location. Just repeat that over and over in your head.
In the U.S. the WFM deal gives Amazon "440 refrigerated warehouses within 10 miles of probably 80% of the population,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities. “More importantly, it puts refrigerated distribution within 10 miles of probably 95% of Prime members."
Amazon is going to slash prices at Whole Foods, overhaul the assortment, give discounts to Prime members, have the fastest and easiest delivery of cheap but grass-fed steaks and paper towels the world has ever seen, and then what are Kroger, Publix, Sprouts and everyone else going to do? Watch their sales decline, as they are already doing, I guess. I'm willing to to bet dollars to donuts that every grocery executive in America is not going to sleep tonight or for the foreseeable future. That includes the dudes in Lakeland.
Nobody is saying Amazon is infallible or that retail is dead because of e-commerce.
Amazon bought WFM in order to gain a vast distribution network of logistical operations, warehouses and more than 460 physical stores worldwide. Scale, logistics, location. Just repeat that over and over in your head.
In the U.S. the WFM deal gives Amazon "440 refrigerated warehouses within 10 miles of probably 80% of the population,” said Michael Pachter, an analyst for Wedbush Securities. “More importantly, it puts refrigerated distribution within 10 miles of probably 95% of Prime members."
Amazon is going to slash prices at Whole Foods, overhaul the assortment, give discounts to Prime members, have the fastest and easiest delivery of cheap but grass-fed steaks and paper towels the world has ever seen, and then what are Kroger, Publix, Sprouts and everyone else going to do? Watch their sales decline, as they are already doing, I guess. I'm willing to to bet dollars to donuts that every grocery executive in America is not going to sleep tonight or for the foreseeable future. That includes the dudes in Lakeland.
You are just speculating here just like the rest of us. We will have to wait and see what actually is going to happen. I doubt "the dudes in Lakeland" will be losing any sleep tonight.
Well, I've heard and read plenty of articles and comments in media and amongst friends to the tune of Amazon is going to destroy everyone and retail is dead. But I guess that's all anecdotal and depends on who you are around and what you read.
When it comes to the "boys in Lakeland," I know the Florida branches of the Business Journal love to tout every thing that another store does as the next big threat to Publix. Whether it's something Amazon is doing, Walmart is doing, the expansion of stores like Lucky's and Sprouts, or speculation of Kroger coming back to Florida through acquisition or organic expansion.
However, the only company that has been closing stores as Florida's grocery landscape changes is Winn-Dixie...
Like I said, I predict that the big national players (Kroger, Albertsons-Safeway, Walmart) will be fine because they have the capital to implement necessary changes. I mean, part of the reason Amazon did this because Walmart has almost caught up with them online. The regional favorites like Publix, Wegmans, Meijer, and HEB will be fine for the same reason. The future of the smaller and/or less popular chains seem more concerning to me.
How will this Amazon acquisition benefit the small town and places Whole Foods shows no interest? They don't have Prime Now and will most likely not see Amazon Fresh and Go for a very long time. I remember when Prime was 3 days instead of two for them. Walmart in many cases is the only national big-box brand servicing these areas with their 3,200 Supercenter and Neighborhood Market footprint.
You are just speculating here just like the rest of us. We will have to wait and see what actually is going to happen. I doubt "the dudes in Lakeland" will be losing any sleep tonight.
Kroger will be just fine it's the largest grocery store chain in America, they will do whatever it takes to stay competitive they have enough capital and I'm sure a large credit line to see them through. What amazon did is a win win for us consumers people will still go to the grocery store and shop. The real companies that benefited were the dry ice makers and shipping container makers and of course UPS and FEDX. These are the big winners in this. So now the paper mills in the Midwest and the north west will benefit from this.
Well, I've heard and read plenty of articles and comments in media and amongst friends to the tune of Amazon is going to destroy everyone and retail is dead. But I guess that's all anecdotal and depends on who you are around and what you read.
When it comes to the "boys in Lakeland," I know the Florida branches of the Business Journal love to tout every thing that another store does as the next big threat to Publix. Whether it's something Amazon is doing, Walmart is doing, the expansion of stores like Lucky's and Sprouts, or speculation of Kroger coming back to Florida through acquisition or organic expansion.
However, the only company that has been closing stores as Florida's grocery landscape changes is Winn-Dixie...
Like I said, I predict that the big national players (Kroger, Albertsons-Safeway, Walmart) will be fine because they have the capital to implement necessary changes. I mean, part of the reason Amazon did this because Walmart has almost caught up with them online. The regional favorites like Publix, Wegmans, Meijer, and HEB will be fine for the same reason. The future of the smaller and/or less popular chains seem more concerning to me.
How will this Amazon acquisition benefit the small town and places Whole Foods shows no interest? They don't have Prime Now and will most likely not see Amazon Fresh and Go for a very long time. I remember when Prime was 3 days instead of two for them. Walmart in many cases is the only national big-box brand servicing these areas with their 3,200 Supercenter and Neighborhood Market footprint.
The grocery players have one major disadvantage: They are in business to make money. They need to make a profit.
Amazon actually is NOT in business to make money. Amazon operates like a start-up, using all their profits to invest back into the business. And shareholders are just fine with that.
That gives Amazon a huge advantage over all grocery chains.
Because Amazon does not actually worry about profit margins, they will keep throwing money at their grocery ambitions until they dominate the sector. Meanwhile the grocery players, which already operate on razor-thin profit margins as it is, will suffer. Big time. By the time they add innovations to try to hang on to shoppers, they will already be toast.
The grocery business, as we know it, changed fundamentally on June 16, 2017. The Amazon/WFM deal has nothing to do with Whole Foods and its target market. It has to do with Amazon's ambitions. Anyone who is not innovating ahead of Amazon will perish. I know that Walmart, for one, will survive. I also have faith in Dollar General. Looking forward to visiting some Lidl stores this weekend in Virginia. Meanwhile the CEOs of both the Fresh Market and Winn Dixie, both struggling retailers, quit this week.
There are also currently a dozen or more startups incubating in California that aim to sell groceries online, cheaper than anyone, at (allegedly) Wegmans/Whole Foods level quality. They argue that shoppers in, say, Tampa for example, should be able to buy grass-fed Wyoming beef for the same cheap price as shoppers in Wyoming. Or that Tampa shoppers should be able to have access to the high-quality tortillas that HEB sells, or the Dungeness crab that Safeway sells in Seattle. None of these things are available at grocery stores in Tampa Bay, but they should be, say the startups. They aim to "democratize" food distribution, so that everyone has access to good cheap food, whether they live in Tampa, Seattle, Des Moines or small towns.
What is clear is that Publix was still voted number 1, the topic of this thread (along of course with Wegman's).
What is clear is that Publix SUPERMARKETS have a long, positive history in the GROCERY STORE/SUPERMARKET business.
Amazon does not. Period. Neither do the parochial idiots who ran Whole Food Market in the ground. Whole Food Market is a "specialty store", NOT a supermarket.
Back to PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS - They are intelligently locating brand new stores VERY CLOSE to where people actually live, such as dotted around upscale, gated communities which are located on average an 8 minute drive from their houses.
Convenience and proximity, with a positive hands-on, customer service environment. That's PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS. A PUBLIX customer is a loyal customer. They will continue to drive 8 minutes to one of their clean and customer friendly plazas to shop for what they consume for the most part.
Food is not a laptop, or a chain saw. Shopping for food is an intensely human, hand-on experience. PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS knows this.
Everyone doesn't use, or want to use their CREDIT CARDS or DEBIT CARDS online to buy food. Millions of people don't even shop online for anything....shoppers under 21, and shoppers over 65-70. Lots of shoppers don't want anymore intrusion to their privacy - companies tracking what you BUY, how much you BUY, WHEN you SHOP, or WHERE THE FOOD IS DELIVERED AS WELL ! Why would a savvy shopper concerned with their privacy provide a store or a THIRD PARTY information such as what you eat and where you live to-boot?
Lots of consumers will not give up their privacy like that in such a willy-nilly fashion.
Most SUPERMARKET purchases are made in CASH. Publix SUPERMARKETS knows this. We are not in a "cashless society"..at least not yet.
Amazon is not going to do COD. Neither is Publix, Kroger, Albertson's, Wegman's or anyone else.
Really, I think PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS' expansion strategy of building CLOSER to select communities is a very very thoughtful model going forward for years to come.
The assertion that AMAZON is going to "democratize" food distribution so that EVERYONE has access to good cheap food" is a specious, half-smart notion. That silly notion suggests that most food consumers are "online" in the first place, and secondarily that most food consumers have, and use a CREDIT CARD to effectuate a transaction ONLINE OR IN PERSON. That's patently FALSE. Consumer credit card debt is already staggering. With food, cash is king.
Who is stupid enough to allow even more intrusion into their private lives, without thinking this completely through? Smart consumers will limit their web exposure - fools shall remain fools, no doubt. Help yourselves...go ahead, you go first - I'll sit back and watch.
What is clear is that Publix was still voted number 1, the topic of this thread (along of course with Wegman's).
What is clear is that Publix SUPERMARKETS have a long, positive history in the GROCERY STORE/SUPERMARKET business.
Amazon does not. Period. Neither do the parochial idiots who ran Whole Food Market in the ground. Whole Food Market is a "specialty store", NOT a supermarket.
Back to PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS - They are intelligently locating brand new stores VERY CLOSE to where people actually live, such as dotted around upscale, gated communities which are located on average an 8 minute drive from their houses.
Convenience and proximity, with a positive hands-on, customer service environment. That's PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS. A PUBLIX customer is a loyal customer. They will continue to drive 8 minutes to one of their clean and customer friendly plazas to shop for what they consume for the most part.
Food is not a laptop, or a chain saw. Shopping for food is an intensely human, hand-on experience. PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS knows this.
Everyone doesn't use, or want to use their CREDIT CARDS or DEBIT CARDS online to buy food. Millions of people don't even shop online for anything....shoppers under 21, and shoppers over 65-70. Lots of shoppers don't want anymore intrusion to their privacy - companies tracking what you BUY, how much you BUY, WHEN you SHOP, or WHERE THE FOOD IS DELIVERED AS WELL ! Why would a savvy shopper concerned with their privacy provide a store or a THIRD PARTY information such as what you eat and where you live to-boot?
Lots of consumers will not give up their privacy like that in such a willy-nilly fashion.
Most SUPERMARKET purchases are made in CASH. Public SUPERMARKETS knows this. We are not in a "cashless society"..at least not yet.
Amazon is not going to do COD. Neither is Publix, Kroger, Albertson's, Wegman's or anyone else.
Really, I think PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS' expansion strategy of building CLOSER to select communities is a very very thoughtful model going forward for years to come.
The assertion that AMAZON is going to "democratize" food distribution so that EVERYONE has access to good cheap food" is a specious, half-smart notion. That silly notion suggests that most food consumers are "online" in the first place, and secondarily that most food consumers have, and use a CREDIT CARD to effectuate a transaction ONLINE OR IN PERSON. That's patently FALSE. Consumer credit card debt is already staggering. With food, cash is king.
Who is stupid enough to allow even more intrusion into their private lives, without thinking this completely through? Smart consumers will limit their web exposure - fools shall remain fools, no doubt. Help yourselves...go ahead, you go first - I'm sit back and watch.
I gotta say, I agree with your whole post ^^^. While I do buy a fair amount of things online, FOOD IS NOT one of them. I personally like to go and see what I am getting, and pick it out, plus have it right when I need it. I am also not one that wants everyone under the sun to have access to my credit/debit cards. I buy online from a few select companies (RARELY from Amazon!) and I never use my phone, only my laptop. I have plenty of friends that are barely online for ANYTHING let alone grocery shopping! And they actually like and want to go to physical stores to try on clothing and shoes. I just don't ever see a day where everyone is going to buy everything online, especially all of their groceries!
Now granted sometimes it can be convenient if one if sick or doesn't have transporation, but then again it would be easy enough for Publix to just really streamline a delivery service for those occasions when one wants home delivery.
I guess I will be curious to see what happens out of all of this. I never cared a flip for Whole Foods anyway, their prices were just so ridiculous, but it should be interesting.
As a former Floridian, I will say that Publix was the best supermarket I ever shopped at, before and afterwards. They are the only supermarket I have ever gone to which did not have self check out, putting cashiers out of work. That is a major plus in and of itself.
While Whole Foods is nice, it is also very expensive. You can get the same type of foods elsewhere and for a lot less money, if you look for them.
What is clear is that Publix was still voted number 1, the topic of this thread (along of course with Wegman's).
What is clear is that Publix SUPERMARKETS have a long, positive history in the GROCERY STORE/SUPERMARKET business.
Amazon does not. Period. Neither do the parochial idiots who ran Whole Food Market in the ground. Whole Food Market is a "specialty store", NOT a supermarket.
Back to PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS - They are intelligently locating brand new stores VERY CLOSE to where people actually live, such as dotted around upscale, gated communities which are located on average an 8 minute drive from their houses.
Convenience and proximity, with a positive hands-on, customer service environment. That's PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS. A PUBLIX customer is a loyal customer. They will continue to drive 8 minutes to one of their clean and customer friendly plazas to shop for what they consume for the most part.
Food is not a laptop, or a chain saw. Shopping for food is an intensely human, hand-on experience. PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS knows this.
Everyone doesn't use, or want to use their CREDIT CARDS or DEBIT CARDS online to buy food. Millions of people don't even shop online for anything....shoppers under 21, and shoppers over 65-70. Lots of shoppers don't want anymore intrusion to their privacy - companies tracking what you BUY, how much you BUY, WHEN you SHOP, or WHERE THE FOOD IS DELIVERED AS WELL ! Why would a savvy shopper concerned with their privacy provide a store or a THIRD PARTY information such as what you eat and where you live to-boot?
Lots of consumers will not give up their privacy like that in such a willy-nilly fashion.
Most SUPERMARKET purchases are made in CASH. Publix SUPERMARKETS knows this. We are not in a "cashless society"..at least not yet.
Amazon is not going to do COD. Neither is Publix, Kroger, Albertson's, Wegman's or anyone else.
Really, I think PUBLIX SUPERMARKETS' expansion strategy of building CLOSER to select communities is a very very thoughtful model going forward for years to come.
The assertion that AMAZON is going to "democratize" food distribution so that EVERYONE has access to good cheap food" is a specious, half-smart notion. That silly notion suggests that most food consumers are "online" in the first place, and secondarily that most food consumers have, and use a CREDIT CARD to effectuate a transaction ONLINE OR IN PERSON. That's patently FALSE. Consumer credit card debt is already staggering. With food, cash is king.
Who is stupid enough to allow even more intrusion into their private lives, without thinking this completely through? Smart consumers will limit their web exposure - fools shall remain fools, no doubt. Help yourselves...go ahead, you go first - I'll sit back and watch.
Nobody is saying physical grocery stores will cease to exist completely. But you can bet that more and more food will be bought and sold online. Last year, more people bought restaurant food instead of groceries. People are buying fewer groceries period.
Physical grocery stores, which are insanely expensive to operate, are full of brands that are no longer popular with consumers, and provide a crappy experience, will be fewer and far between. It's going to get to the point where it will be more painless to go online and order your steaks and have them delivered from a warehouse in 10 minutes, than driving to Publix or whatever store, parking, walking, dealing with the hordes of shoppers or slow checkouts, etc.
20 years ago nobody thought malls and department stores would die, either. Soon they will be dead and the few stores left will just be showrooms where you can touch and feel the product but still order it online.
You are over-estimating the American consumer's need to touch and feel their groceries. Soon they will prefer clicking a button.
I left Florida and returned to my home state of AZ. But I have to admit Publix was one of the few positive things about Tallahassee (LOL). I often went to Publix during lunch for a sub. Speaking of Tallahassee, Winston was castigated online (to put it mildly) about the time he got caught stealing from Publix in Tallahassee. It was a poor decision. Miami fans made it a point of bringing it up (as did fans from Oregon, Florida, etc).
Personally, I was one of the few FSU graduates in Tallahassee who believed Erica Kinsman. When it comes to football, I am a Gator. I also have a graduate degree from UF in Gainesville. I used to go to Publix down there too.
Didn't really believe her after reading the police report. She was dating a football player from Kent State but her family didn't even know about it because they didn't think she'd ever willingly sleep with a black guy (apparently they'd never met her bf Jamal Roberts).
She claimed to be drugged/or highly intoxicated. The police tested her shortly after the rape (mere hours) yet she didn't have any drugs in her system and barely, if any, alcohol.
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