Amazon Acquires High-End Grocery Store Chain

Category: Business

Listening

Unlocking Word Meanings

Read the following words/expressions found in today’s article.

  1. high-end / ˈhaɪˈɛnd / (adj) – more expensive and having greater quality than most
    Example:

    I am willing to buy high-end products because of their quality.


  2. walk of life / wɔk ʌv laɪf / (idiom) – one’s status in society
    Example:

    People from all walks of life go to this park.


  3. disclose / dɪˈskloʊz / (v) – to reveal something, especially information hidden to the public
    Example:

    The management cannot disclose the meeting’s agenda.


  4. mark down / mɑrk daʊn / (phrasal) – to lower the price of a product
    Example:

    The store marked down all its products during its summer sale.


  5. upend / ʌpˈɛnd / (v) – to change, particularly to turn over
    Example:

    We need to upend our company’s bad press by doing something good.


Article

Read the text below.

E-commerce giant Amazon has bought high-end grocery chain Whole Foods.


Last August, Amazon and Whole Foods sealed the deal with a $13.7 billion acquisition. Upon acquiring the grocery, Amazon’s first move was to make organic food staples cheaper and more accessible to all walks of life.


An employee disclosed that more than 300 items in Whole Foods were marked down, including bananas and chicken that were discounted by 30% and 29%, respectively.


Prior to the acquisition, Whole Foods had a reputation for selling overpriced products. In 2015, the chain was ridiculed for releasing asparagus water. The product, which was essentially three stalks of asparagus in a jar of water, was sold for $6. Whole Foods retracted the product after it went viral on social media, saying that it was a mistake.


In the same year, Whole Foods underwent trial for overcharging goods and paid $500,000 to settle the issue. The controversies caused its stock to drop more than 30%. However, Whole Foods’ reputation was upended by the Amazon takeover, which caused a 28% stock boost for the grocery chain.


Now, in addition to making its products more affordable, Amazon is looking to implement more changes to Whole Foods. Amazon has already made some of its products available in Whole Foods groceries. The online retailer will also make Whole Foods products available on its website and offer a same-day grocery delivery service to Amazon Prime customers. Amazon is also considering creating “Amazon lockers”—spaces in Whole Foods stores where customers can pick up or return items bought from Amazon.com.


Viewpoint Discussion

Enjoy a discussion with your tutor.

Discussion A

• Do you think that lowering the prices of Whole Foods products will affect their quality? Explain.
• Do you think that Amazon’s takeover of Whole Foods will totally upend the latter’s bad reputation? Why or why not?

Discussion B

• Is it reasonable for grocery chains or producers to sell organic products at very high prices? Why or why not?
• Aside from reducing the price of organic products, how else can healthy food be accessible to more people? Discuss.