Will Whole Foods Be Amazon’s Waterloo?
by Mark St.Cyr,
ZeroHedge.com
Jul 17, 2017
Although the Battle of Waterloo means different things to different people, one of the more widely held meanings it’s come to represent is something along the lines of a battle that one side held certain of victory, only to not only be beaten, but then lose everything they had fought for to begin with. This is what ended Napoleon, but it wasn’t for that he had no plan. On the contrary, he just believed his plan wouldn’t fail. That plan was: isolate, and annihilate, each army separately. (e.g., the Allied and Prussian armies.)
If you interchange “armies” for “business sectors”, Amazon’s strategy over the last few years seems much aligned. i.e., War against big-box retail, then all retail, media, spacecraft, and now – retail food shopping. I am of the opinion Amazon™, much like Napoleon, are going to find this battlefield has far more challenges that may end up costing them far more dearly, than they ever bargained for. Here’s why…
Unbeknownst to most, when it comes to the perishable food segment, the regulations and more (i.e., meat, dairy, et cetera) that allow what we American’s take for granted when it comes not only to variety, but for the safety and assured wholesomeness that our food supply is – it’s unlike anything most retailers outside of the industry have ever encountered. Let alone understand.
The ones whom find it the most difficult to acclimate to; are those who are all ready in the retail business (think: department store mentality) and believe it’s all just a case of applying what they know, or what they perceive as “what they know”; and switch it out using a shelf full of, let’s say toys, for a shelf full of steaks, as an example.
Many believe the only difference (an assumed difference) is that one shelf is refrigerated, yet, all the rest is the same. i.e., You have a product, a price, a label, a way to accept money for it, and a place to store back-stock. Sounds easy-peasy right? And that’s the problem, it sounds like it. But it’s anything but in the real world.
The reasons why I know this to be true is because this was the industry I made my marks in. i.e., The meat industry. And when it comes to what Amazon is going to have to contend with going forward I can speak directly to that because (using a hypothetical) when Amazon will be looking to make “deals” or “set up a supplier”, I would be the one on the other-side of the table they would need to negotiate through. And yes, I’ve actually done it, at that level. So I know intimately what I’m talking about, which is why I’m making this case.
This isn’t going to be the first time some retail behemoth decided they were going to get into the “food” market and show the industry a thing or two on how “they” believed the complex should run. It’s been done before, only to have their management sent packing arse-in-hand, shell-shocked, and mumbling for days, “WTF just happened there? Don’t they understand who we are?!” I’m referring to Walmart™ and their initial foray into groceries.
The Rest…HERE
