Whole Foods’ in-house brands are quickly rising up Amazon’s charts to become top sellers for the online retailer.
Citing data from One Click Retail, eMarketer reports customers have purchased more than $1.6 million of 365 Everyday Value items across Amazon platforms like AmazonFresh and Amazon Pantry in the first four weeks since Amazon’s blockbuster $13.7 billion deal to buy Whole Foods closed. The Whole Foods brand also outsold Amazon’s number two private label brand, Amazon Elements, last week, according to the data.
In late August, the same day Amazon rolled out its first round of changes at Whole Foods stores, including lower prices and displays of Alexa-powered devices in stores, hundreds of 365 items showed up on the AmazonFresh website. That includes everything from dairy items like eggs, cheese and butter to frozen meals and snacks. In addition to delivery through AmazonFresh, the Whole Foods items are available through the AmazonFresh Pickup locations.
One Click Retail found that approximately a quarter of Whole Foods items sold through Amazon so far have been fresh, perishable items like eggs and cheese. In its grocery push, Amazon is betting that people are willing to buy their groceries online sight-unseen, including things like meat and produce, and this data is a good sign for the retail giant.
It’s been a good start for Amazon and Whole Foods, though not all the changes are in place yet, it appears. eMarketer reports that there are still some discrepancies between prices of items in Whole Foods stores and on Amazon online platforms.
A study by Gordon Haskett Research Advisors analyst Chuck Grom included tracking prices three times over the past five weeks of 110 Whole Foods items. The team found that 17 of those items saw an average price drop of 18 percent during that time, while prices increased for 16 items and 77 items stayed the same price.
It’s worth noting that it’s only been a little over a month so Amazon took control of Whole Foods, and the company is likely planning to phase in price cuts over time, rather than jamming them all in upfront.
