On the first day of ownership on Monday, Amazon (NASDAQ:$AMZN) has already cut prices on popular items such as avocados and apples in Whole Foods Market. This was an enormous effort to shed the unaffordable reputation the brand has built, as prices have been cut by as much as a third.
This was expected however, as the company inferred last week that it would slowly roll back prices in Whole Foods throughout the week starting on Monday.
With a variety of products being discounted, signs were posted all around the store highlighting these deductions. The most notable products with price deductions were the Hass avocados and Fuji apples which each had their prices cut by a dollar from $2.99 to $1.99
Meat and Fish products also received a discount.
With New York strip steak and boneless ribeye prices dropping from $16.99 to $13.99, and “responsibly farmed” Atlantic Salmon dropping 4 dollars from $13.99 to $9.99, prices have been cut by 18 percent and 29 percent respectively.
The new prices boasted by Whole Foods are in some cases, lower than nearby competing grocery stores such as Ralphs. Owned by Kroger (NYSE:$KR), Ralphs is known to aggressively compete on pricing.
Although the downtown Los Angeles Ralphs was able to match Whole Foods’ prices on Rib Eye steaks, it was unable to keep up with the all price cuts. At Ralphs, conventionally grown avocados and bananas were going for $1.99 each, and $0.59 per pound respectively, while Whole foods was able to offer the same produce at $1.49 per avocado, and $0.49 per pound.
Additionally, signs boasting Amazon’s Echo and Echo Dot smart speakers for their respective $99.99 and $44.99 price tags can also be found amidst the aisles and stalls in the downtown Los Angeles locations.
The Echo is a crucial aspect of Amazon’s initiatives, as they try to popularize and control the hands-free voice command market. Equipped with Alexa, a voice-controlled assistant similar to Siri, users can instruct Alexa to perform various task such as setting timers, playing music, narrate stories or recipes, order delivery, and much more.
With 450 of its 470 worldwide stores in the United States, Whole Foods has a very concentrated geographical presence.
Featured Image: twitter
