Acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon: Strategies and Feasibility

This report analyzes the acquisition of Whole Foods Market by Amazon and the strategies implemented for its success. It includes a Pestle analysis, Five Forces analysis, Value Chain analysis, SWOT analysis, and TOWS matrix. Feasibility and physical and intellectual resources are also discussed.

Running head: MANAGEMENT
Management
Name of student
Name of University
Author note

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Table of Contents
Management....................................................................................................................................1
Introduction on Amazon and Whole Foods.....................................................................................3
Evaluation of the Strategies and Understandings............................................................................4
Sustainability of Whole Foods market.........................................................................................4
Pestle Analysis.............................................................................................................................5
Five Forces...................................................................................................................................8
Value Chain................................................................................................................................10
SWOT Analysis.........................................................................................................................10
TOWS........................................................................................................................................12
Feasibility Amazon........................................................................................................................14
Acceptability of Amazon and Whole foods...................................................................................16
Rationale & Motivation.................................................................................................................18
Potential Anticipated Problems.....................................................................................................20
Recommendations..........................................................................................................................21
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................21
References......................................................................................................................................22

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Introduction on Amazon and Whole Foods
The report is prepared to demonstrate about the acquisition of Whole Foods Market by
Amazon .com and thus it will illustrate about the main strategies implemented by the company to
forecast and evaluate the suitability. While Amazon.com is a multinational technology
organization that has focused on the e-commerce platform and cloud computing technology to
deliver products and services to the people worldwide, Whole Foods Market is the supermarket
chain that has been acquired by Amazon and it is known for its delivery of organic products
(Phillips and Zhdanov 2013). Jeff Bezos is the owner of the organization and it is one of the
second largest private employers at present in US with over 550,000.
The ANSOFF matrix clearly shows that the first and foremost reason for acquiring
Whole Foods Market is to improve its efficiency in managing market penetration and at the same
time, allow for diversification, development of new products and services along with the growth
and development of market to increase the customer base. The super market chain of more than
450 retail stores were purchased by Amazon, which was basically to attract the investors and this
eventually resulted in the addition of 11 centers for food storage along with nearly 500 centers

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for distribution of the products and services by Amazon (Amazon.com 2019). This has been a
great approach for business expansion and at the same time, become a large retail chain to
increase the range of products to artificial flavors, colors, sweeteners, preservatives,
hydrogenated fats that are USDA Certified. Amazon has anticipated growth in its shares from
Whole Foods customer base, which has allowed evolvement and transition in all operational
aspects for the fulfillment of customers’ needs and preferences (Kansal and Chandani 2014).
Evaluation of the Strategies and Understandings
Sustainability of Whole Foods market
The products and services delivered by Whole Foods Market are quite sustainable and are
considered as of great quality that has been certified by the USDA as well. The rating system
shown below represents good growth in terms of quality and consistency in delivering according
to the needs and expectations of the clients. With the acquisition, Amazon.com has managed to
increase its wide variety of products as well as made sure to overlap the existing customer base,
without needing to remove them as they can get everything under the same roof. Amazon.com
has expanded into a new category from a position of strength and this has resulted in capturing
new market share along with influence in negotiations with the vendors by pushing the
competitors’ profit margin down. The prices are kept lower for the products offered by Whole
Foods Market without compromising on the quality of those, which has further helped in
achieving operational efficiency and accomplishment of consumers’ demands and expectations
with ease (Park, Yoon and Kim 2013). The products and services of Whole Foods Market are
available online with the acquisition, which is a sustainable approach to expand market share and
surpass other retailers within the competitive business environment (Amazon.com 2019).

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Pestle Analysis
Pestle Data (Facts) Analysis (implications) Application
Political The rules and
regulations on organic
products and GMO food
items could create new
opportunities for the
acquisition to be
successful.
The free trade agreement s
and lower labour standards
further created more scopes
to open overseas and enter
new markets easily
Application of labour
standards and to enter
new markets
Economic The higher employment
rate in US allowed the
This could also affect the
supply chain by increasing
From the economic
perspective, the rising

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acquisition of Amazon
and Whole Foods
Market to create new
employment
opportunities for people
(Chang, Chang and
Wang 2014)
its supplies’ costs;
furthermore make the
acquisition to sell products
and services at increased
prices.
labour standards could
create some issues and
threats, because of the
dependence of supply
chain on the
developing nations’
producers.
Social The healthy lifestyle
choices and cultural
diversity have also made
the acquisition of
Amazon and Whole
Foods Market to open
up ways of influencing
co consumer buying
behaviours.
The companies have gained
scopes to deliver diverse
product mix for fulfilling
the cultural diversity needs,
furthermore maintain
steady growth in spite of
the increased wealth gap.
Adopting culture and
applying product mix
strategy to improve
social wellbeing
Technological The automated business
processes and patenting
the GMOs improved the
business performance,
which further made the
acquisition of Amazon
and Whole Foods
The customers could now
access adequate supply of
products and at the same
time, gain wider access to
both the products delivered
by Amazon.com and Whole
Application in
workplace for
improved business
performance (Claro et
al. 2013)

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Market successful by
providing enhanced
online services through
usage of mobile smart
phones.
Foods Market.
Environmental The higher rate of
pollution and global
warming could threaten
the ecosystem and as
such, affect the
productivity of farmers
in fields.
With the acquisition of
Amazon and Whole Foods
Market, new initiatives and
environmental approaches
are undertaken to manage
waste disposal and
sustainability.
The application
environmental laws
and rules could help to
preserve the
ecological balance in
nature as well as
deliver eco-friendly
products and services
for ensuring higher
level of customer
satisfaction.
Legal The Environment
protection laws, rules
and guidelines and labor
laws have allowed both
these companies to
evaluate their suppliers
The suppliers are provided
with good amount of
money and the investors
have been drawn to
capitalize on the Whole
Trade Guarantee and the
To maintain proper
values and ethics

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according to fair labor
practices.
brand image and reputation
have improved since then
(Gustafson et al. 2013).
Five Forces
Force Description Result
Rivalry The competition is high with
the presence of Tesco,
Walmart, etc.
With the acquisition of
Whole Foods Market,
Amazon has gained a
sustainable competitive
position among the other
retail supermarket chains.

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Competition = Bargaining
power of consumer
The buyer power is
moderate, because Amazon
already held a sustainable
position
With the acquisition of
Whole Foods Market, it has
become easy for influencing
the buying behaviors of
consumers, which has made
customers remain inclined
towards the company
without shifting to other
producers of organic
produces (Ahi and Searcy
2013).
Supplier The supplier power is high
because the production of
goods and services is
dependent upon the capacity
of suppliers of the organic
produces (Conlon and
Mortimer 2013).
The suppliers supplying raw
materials and resources are
also responsible for making
any changes to price of
products and services after
the acquisition of Whole
Foods and Amazon.
New Entrant The threat of new entrants is
high, because with the
emergence of many retailers,
there have been constant
This could hinder
management of
opportunities to compete
within the business

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introduction of new products
and services
environment
Substitution The company standards are
maintained, which has
helped in marketing the
products effectively
this has helped in avoiding
the threats of substitute
products made available in
the marketplace and the
threat is low (Göbel et al.
2015)
Value Chain
The primary activities include inbound logistics, operations managed through acquisition of
Whole Foods, outbound logistics and management of marketing, sales and post sales services.
The support activities include maintaining a proper infrastructure, management of human
resources, development of technology and managing procurement. The skilled and

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knowledgeable employees within the workplace have gone through training and developmental
sessions, which has helped in making investments on huge amounts of resources and thus created
higher level of motivation too (Gereffi and Fernandez-Stark 2016).
SWOT Analysis
Strengths
 With the acquisition of Whole Foods
Market by Amazon.com, the
distribution network has become strong
and this has helped in expanding
distribution centers to reach up to high
potential markets
 Highly skilled and knowledgeable
workforce
 The strong brand portfolio and good
suppliers’ connections (Tyson and
Walske 2016)
 Good marketing strategies through
advertisements and promotional
campaigns after acquisition
Weaknesses
 Even after the acquisition of Amazon
and Whole Foods market, the level of
innovation is poor compared to other
players within the industry
 The ration of profitability and Net
Contribution percentage after
acquisition of Amazon and Whole
Foods Acquisition are also quite low
and are below the industry average
standards
 Due to the increased numbers of
inventories, the need for raising more
capital is essential, which was a
daunting task for gaining long term
growth (Grönman et al. 2013)
 The new entrants in the market have
been difficult to cope up with

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 The financial planning was not done
right, which further contributed to the
challenges in getting enough finances
Opportunities
 The increase in expenditures by clients
has increased the economic condition
 The green drive initiatives by
Government created scopes for
lessening environmental degradation
 The advanced technologies allowed the
acquisition to introduce new pricing
strategies and keep the products within
reasonable prices (Ciravegna and
Brenes 2016)
 The new environmental policies further
could allow for using home advantage
in new technology and gain higher
market share within the new category
of products and services
Threats
 Threats of new entrants in the market
and competitors
 The rise in level of pay could pressurize
the profit level for Amazon and Whole
Foods acquisition
 The currency fluctuations could be
major threats as well
 The increased numbers of local
distributors could also pose serious
threats for reducing the profit margin
for Amazon and Whole Food Market
(Simons 2017)

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TOWS
Opportunities
(external, positive)
Threats
(external, negative)
Strengths
(internal, positive)
Example
Strength-Opportunity strategies
Strong brand name and image
has allowed for acquisition of
Whole Foods to increase
products’ range and customer
base too. This has also helped in
entering Asian markets and
spread the products all over the
world for managing global
business expansion (Grewal et
al. 2017).
Strengths-Threats strategies
The good working capital
and financial status could
allow for creating new
stores and divert the
mindsets of clients from the
other companies to Amazon
Whole Foods merger (Holt
2016)
Weaknesses
(internal, negative)
Weakness-Opportunities
strategies
The customers are informed
about the merger and acquisition
Weakness-Threats strategies
As it would create scopes
for a new merger to be
successful, educational

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and the new products and
services that should be
delivered, which could influence
their buying behaviors
opportunities should be
provided for making the
employees of both
companies strive towards
proper business functioning
(Scrinis 2016).
Feasibility Amazon
The feasibility demonstrates whether the strategy in practice is effective for managing the
acquisition of Amazon and Whole foods Market and even checking whether the financial
resources are placed properly or not, which could help in raising enough funds, furthermore
manage human resources properly along with various skills required to achieve the business
goals and objectives easily. The strategic capabilities are essential for creating a great positive
impact on the long term growth and survival along with achievement of competitive edge over
its competitors for Amazon (Fischer, Pirog and Hamm 2015).
Physical
The physical resources mainly include the manufacturing and production equipment and
machineries, inventories, assembly, storage facilities and distribution facilities that are necessary
for ensuring that that production is successful. The physical capabilities and resources include
digital merchandises, patents, and databases holding customer related data and information,

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warehouses, technology infrastructures that contribute to the operational aspects to ensure long
term success and gaining competitive advantage in business as well (Matson and Thayer 2016).
Intellectual
After acquiring Whole Foods Market, Amazon has focused on protecting the intellectual
property rights and made sure to undertake any preventive measures for selling the products and
services in a responsible manner. The intellectual properties are registered properly, which has
been the best interest to copyright and this has helped in preserving the brand logo and patents
too. Investing enough time further helped in protecting the photos, descriptions and made the
products and services hot selling items, which also prevented infringement of intellectual
property rights too (Basha et al. 2015).
Human
The Employee empowerment programmes have helped in keeping the staffs encouraged
and motivated, furthermore allowed them to innovate and gain good skills, knowledge and
experience, furthermore ensure management of key competences in respect of the management
of human resources (Casini et al. 2015). The Career Choices initiative after the acquisition of
Amazon and Whole Foods Market has allowed paying the employees to take course in the
demand fields while the Pay to Quit enabled provided the associates with money for quitting
from their jobs and create more opportunities of employment to become successful in the future
career. The facilities of Amazon along with the human resources have helped in the development
of a flexible supply chain that could give the clients with benefits regarding additional discounts
and offers provided to the products and services (Asioli et al. 2017). This has also enhanced the

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capability of Amazon to negotiate with the third parties, furthermore combined the human
resources and competencies that have played major roles in ensuring long term growth, success
and prosperity by providing a good strategic direction to the company as well.
Finance
The financial resources attained after the acquisition of Amazon and Whole Foods
Market include the working capital along with the company assets and liabilities that are
currently possessed. Considering the balance sheet and income statement, it has been understood
that short term investments and cash equivalents as well as the management of inventories could
also help in managing enough financial resources required to maintain a proper budget structure
all throughout (Vukasovič 2016). After the acquisition, there is abundant cash and other assets
that are required to cover the liabilities and at the same time, strengthen its financial status and
improve working capital to survive in the competitive business environment.
Acceptability of Amazon and Whole foods
The level of acceptance of Amazon and Whole foods is quite high among the clients,
because though the changes have affected the consumer facing front end, still the lowering down
of prices of products and introduction of newer technologies have facilitated other services such
as one day delivery and grocery pickup as well. Most of the clients agreed that the lowering of
prices did not affect the quality of products, which has allowed the company acquiring Whole
Foods to set up a strong brand image and new prime benefits were introduced too (Aschemann-
Witzel et al. 2017). This included delivering healthy food items made available at reduced cost
and easy accessibility due to increase in distribution channels. The acceptability of acquisition of

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Amazon and Whole Foods Market by stakeholders in great, especially for the customers,
investors or shareholders and employees.
The investors or shareholders approved the merger with Amazon though with the
management of various transactions that were subjected to regulatory approvals and customary
conditions of closure. Though there were speculations that the investors, shareholders and
analysts were worried about the deal of acquisition because this might result in overturning the
condition of grocery shops, services associated with food delivery and meal kit companies. The
offer made by Amazon showed a 27 percent premium on the price of Whole Foods stock and
questions were raised by investors regarding whether it might be too cheap or not (Alrøe et al.
2017). With the aim of trading at $57 per share, the shareholders felt it convenient and agreed to
the acquisition of Amazon and Whole Foods Market. The market cap for Amazon also increased
by an entire amount that was already paid for the acquisition and this influenced the shareholders
and investors to understand that the acquisition has created more rooms for improvements and to
pay higher amounts of money for the strategic assets (Claro et al. 2013). Previously, Whole
Foods was facing issues like loss of share and the organic food space became more competitive,
due to which, the shareholders demanded the company to make major changes but with the
acquisition, the shareholders were not only benefited, but also got various scopes and
opportunities to gain good amount of return on investments (Amazon.com 2019).
With the merger, the employees have gained various new scopes and opportunities to
grow and excel in their career, furthermore ensured achievement of synergy, which is essential
for the formation of a good corporate culture and good working conditions too. The level of
acceptability among the employees is considerably lower, because with the merger and

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acquisition, there have been issues like inability to adopt the new culture of another company and
to get accustomed with the working conditions of Whole Foods market. It is important for
Amazon to make sure that the acquisition creates good employment good opportunities and thus
necessary training and developmental programs were ranged for them to strengthen their skills,
knowledge and expertise (Conlon and Mortimer 2013). The customers have accepted this
acquisition whole heartedly because with the acquisition, there has been a new and wide range of
products and services available. The products and services of both the companies namely
Amazon and Whole Foods Market are made available, which has influenced the buying
behaviors of consumers and created convenience to access the products and services, all under
the same roof with much ease and effectiveness (Amazon.com 2019).
Rationale & Motivation
Prior to Whole Foods Market acquisition by Amazon, the company had experienced
annual revenue of nearly $16 billion, however, with the acquisition, new stores are opened with
both Amazon and Whole Foods’ products available at the same place. The customer are
influenced and motivated to try the new way of business accessibility, which has made them able
to purchase Amazon items at Whole Foods stores and pick up their specific products and
services in Amazon Lockers. The rationale though has been the difficult of adopting the culture
of another organization, which could affect business practices and slow down the business
operations. Based on the evaluation, it could be understood that there are various environmental
concerns, capabilities of the organization along with the expectations of the organization after the
acquisition is done (Gereffi and Fernandez-Stark 2016). The mixture of two cultures of Amazon
and Whole Foods Market has helped in utilizing data and information for managing the product

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mix components along with the enforcement of strict employee policies, laws and guidelines for
saving up a lot of cost and pass the products and services to the clients appropriately
(Amazon.com 2019).
With the mixing up of two cultures, it has become easier for Whole Foods Market to
possess a highly empowerment type of culture, which has set standards and resulted in
introducing new inventory management systems for managing stocks and at the same time,
increased the sales margin that was below the expected level for Whole Foods Market in the past
few years. This has enhanced the business’ capabilities and allowed the merger and acquisition
to cater to the demands and expectations of the customers with much ease and effectiveness.
Amazon has always prioritized on the lowering down of costs and managing business efficiency
with focus on performance measurement in the warehousing and distribution centers.
Amazon.com has focused on enhancing its online grocery services though the growth has been
slower, because of which, the company has been trying to transform the Prime consumers to
Fresh (Ahi and Searcy 2013). With the acquisition of Whole Foods, the trust issues with the
consumers had been settled and t has also improved the online purchases made by the customers
online. This has been one of the strengths of the acquisition, which has allowed the customers to
gain access to high quality fresh food items and at the same time get the products of Whole
Foods Market at a reasonable price.
With the environmental concerns been one of the major focus on businesses nowadays,
there has been focus on reducing the carbon emissions and keeping the environment clean and
healthy as well. Often, it has been seen that the online shopping has made it easier to remain
environment friendly and at the same time, allowed the acquisition parties to deliver fresh quality

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products and services under the same roof at a much reasonable price too (Shankar et al. 2016).
With the acquisition of Whole Foods, Amazon has managed sustainable and eco-friendly
packaging and made sure to resolve the issues related to sustainability along with standard
shipping towards greener approach and maintaining a healthy environment too (Amazon.com
2019).
The Amazon-Whole Foods merger expectations include increase in sales revenue in the
upcoming years and to ensure best practices for benefiting the stakeholders and at the same time,
facilitate innovation from every aspects to drive more customers towards the organization. Few
major changes were implemented and should be implemented in the future as well to make sure
that more items and services are added within the range of products offered currently, which
should create a huge customer base and keep clients inclined towards the company effectively
(Simeone, Scarpato and Marinelli 2016).
Figure: Sales expectations (Simeone, Scarpato and Marinelli 2016)

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Potential Anticipated Problems
With the acquisition the transportation has resulted in higher emissions of carbon dioxide
and other harmful gases, which has degraded the environment and created imbalance in nature.
The delivery of products and services into the neighborhood were never designed for
management of freight traffic, which further contributed to congestion, noise related issues and
damage of infrastructure.
Though the expectations of clients are met at a certain extent, still there are few cases
where the customers have felt that the acquisition has just resulted in enhancing the wide range
of products rather than focusing on the quality standards. Due to this, consumers have been less
motivated to make purchases online, which has reduced the profit margin and hindered attaining
competitive advantage (Shankar et al. 2016).
Recommendations
 It is recommended to adopt greener approaches and manage environment friendly
packaging and production of eco-friendly products and services for maintaining an
ecological balance in nature
 The proper management of stocks and inventories is recommended for ensuring that the
right prices are set for the products and services
 The extension of online grocery items and managing transparency would result in
increasing the product range such as the artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners,
preservatives, etc. for influencing the choices and buying decisions made by the
customers

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 Adopting the culture and working conditions of Whole Foods after the acquisition should
be essential as well for making roe products available in the shelves and at the newly
opened stores
 It is also recommended to provide the right training and development programs to
employees for improving their skills, knowledge and expertise and ensure that the
Amazon Whole Foods merger is successful and noteworthy in the future as well
Conclusion
The report was prepared to demonstrate about the management of business considered
Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods Market to sustain in the competitive marketplace. The
strategies implemented include the PESTLE, value chain and the five forces that helped in
determining the various factors that might affect the business functioning. The feasibility
Amazon provided a brief understanding about how the physical, intellectual, human and
financial resources were responsible for checking whether the Amazon Whole Foods merger
could be successful or not. The level of acceptance by the stakeholders is quite high and it
showed that the merger had brought changes in structure of the organization and enabled
enhancing the range of products and services to influence consumer buying behaviors to the
utmost level possible.

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