Amazon’s closing of the Whole Foods Market acquisition this week is sure to add to brick-and-mortar retailers’ anxiety about the e-tailing giant’s ongoing march into traditional retail channels. Speculation about a potential move by Amazon into the pharmacy space has disquieted drug chains and other retail pharmacy players. But the online retailer’s grocery market entry
SEATTLE — Amazon announced on Thursday that its $13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods Market Inc. will close on Aug. 28. Amazon also revealed details about how it intends to lower prices and integrate its Prime membership program into the Whole Foods checkout process. The company’s bid for Whole Foods was approved Aug. 23 by
In the aftermath of the failed Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA) acquisition of Rite Aid Corp., very little has happened. Rather, it’s like the event itself, or the nonevent, was an ending, a development so sudden and final that nothing else could happen. WBA continues to gather momentum, adding sales and stores in the U.S.
What would happen to your business if, tomorrow, Amazon bought a major chain like CVS Pharmacy, Walgreens or Rite Aid? Not so long ago, if you put this question to an executive in the chain drug store industry, the response might have been “Well, that’s not going to happen.” But now that Amazon has announced
NEW YORK — Back-to-school spending is forecast to rise this season, according to recent surveys from the National Retail Federation and Deloitte LLC. Families with children in elementary through high school plan to spend an average $687.72 each, for a total of $29.5 billion, an 8% increase from last year’s $27.3 billion, according to the
SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. has agreed to acquire Whole Foods Market Inc. for $13.7 billion, including debt, in its biggest deal ever. The acquisition will launch the e-commerce giant into hundreds of physical stores and fulfill a long-held goal of selling more groceries to consumers. Amazon will pay $42 a share in cash for the
Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote, “People wish to be settled; only as far as they are unsettled is there any hope for them.” To the extent that Emerson’s insight is applicable to the grocery business, retailers vying for a share of the nation’s $800 billion a year in food and beverage sales, a contingent that includes
The biggest stories to come out of chain drug retailing thus far in 2017 are non-stories. Indeed, it’s grocery and discount store retailers that are making all the news, while drug chains continue to anticipate the newest developments — or, more likely, wait for them to happen. In the supermarket business, Albertsons Cos. is making
Amazon’s success as a pioneer of online retailing is unquestioned, and it continues to be a disruptor to brick-and-mortar retailers (most recently, grocery retailers). But the e-tail giant’s alternatives in the pharmacy space — which CNBC reported it has targeted — aren’t so clear cut, according to pharmacy supply chain expert Adam Fein. “I would
Amazon’s move into groceries shook up the food retail scene. That scenario may be in store for pharmacies. CNBC reported Tuesday evening that Amazon is ushering in a “business lead” to explore a foray into the pharmacy business and that the company has stepped up recruiting from the pharmacy arena. Citing unidentified sources, CNBC said
Albertsons Cos. reportedly is eyeing Whole Foods Markets, but it appears such an acquisition would be difficult for the Boise-based food and drug retailer to swallow. The Financial Times reported this week that Cerberus Capital Management, which leads the investor group that owns Albertsons, has engaged in preliminary discussions with bankers about a possible bid
Amazon has sure fed the acquisition rumor mill recently. The latest scuttlebutt: The online retail giant is taking a look at BJ’s Wholesale Club. The New York Post has reported that privately held BJ’s is putting itself on the block after its ownership determined that an IPO was ill-timed. Citing anonymous sources, the Post article
SEATTLE — Amazon Inc. has expanded its delivery of products from Bartell Drugs in the Seattle area. The online retail giant said Tuesday that its Amazon Prime Now service has more than doubled its reach for Bartell Drugs to include the Everett, Greenwood and downtown Seattle, Wash., neighborhoods. Bartell Drugs was the first drug chain
SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc. continues to push the retail innovation envelope, recently unveiling a store without checkouts and field testing delivery by drones in the United Kingdom. The 1,800-square-foot Amazon Go store perhaps most closely resembles a high-end, high-tech convenience store. Customers do not need to scan their purchases or go through a checkout line.
