Whole Foods Market has long been heralded as an overpriced, “bougie” supermarket whose organic foods are out of the reach of cost-conscious folks.
But now, after Amazon’s acquisition of the grocery store, the culture surrounding it is changing. As its first move, Amazon cut the prices of 13 best-selling foods and promises more price cuts are on the way.
Not only are the price cuts the first step toward changing the public’s perception of Whole Foods as an elitist grocery store, but they could also make healthy foods more accessible to lower-income or food-insecure families that need them.
Low-income families often do not consume as nutritious a diet as higher-income families and instead rely on cheaper, more efficient sources of food. These other sources, while low-cost, are often high in sugar and not much else.
Instead of looking to fast-food options for meals, those on a tighter budget may feasibly be able to shop at the health-food giant for a nutritious meal, like rotisserie chicken or baby kale – two items that were made much cheaper after the Amazon acquisition.
Amazon’s purchase and alteration of Whole Foods is going to make organic and nutritious foods much more affordable for those food-insecure or undernourished people – but only if they do it right.
Amazon has to change the public’s view of Whole Foods from a stomping ground for #fitspo Instagram models to a supermarket where everyone is invited to choose healthy, organic options.
It is not enough to simply lower the prices on a few foods a week to help combat food insecurity. People have to want to come in and actually purchase the foods, which requires some marketing and brand transitions. They have to know they are welcome.
What is tricky about Whole Foods is that because it has catered to a high-class demographic of customers for so long, it has a long way to go to convince everyone that it is a grocery store for everyone.
The Whole Foods marketing team has to show the American public the store is no longer “Whole Paycheck,” as the joke goes. It has to campaign to make sure the new lower-priced avocados aren’t just trendy fruits. Rather, it has to show they’re healthy fats that are now attainable for everyone.
So far, Amazon is not doing a great job at selling the idea that the new Whole Foods is an every man’s grocery store.
In the few days that the Amazon-Whole Foods hybrids have been open, Amazon has already placed stands of “Farm Fresh” Amazon Echos at the entrances.
Nothing appears as uninviting to new, perhaps lower-income customers as a pile of unnecessary tech gadgets at the entrance of a grocery store.
Hopefully, as Amazon rolls out more price cuts and plans for its Whole Foods venture, the company will keep in mind the societal influence it can have through food and its marketing.
