Whole Foods+Amazon Price Drop
There has been a lot of talk about the Whole Foods and Amazon merger, and one of the things I heard was that there would be crazy price drops on different items throughout the store! What? Yep, you heard it right, Price Drops! Well, don't get too excited yet because I am about to break down all the details for you.
Backstory
When we lived in LA, Steven (my husband) and I would shop at Whole Foods weekly, we didn't have a lot of options close so it was there or Vons. Some items we could get at Vons for a better price but the majority of the meats, dairy, and produce were purchased at Whole Foods. I am a strong believer in Grocery lists, and meal planning. These 2 items set me up for a few things:
- No (or very little) wasted food for the week
- Always knowing whats in my fridge and pantry, and being able to reevaluate each week
- It keeps the cost down, knowing what I am going in for prevents most of the "Well, I think we need this" or "Hmmm, this looks good" purchases that we all LOVE to make
Even with these strict principles in play, we were lucky to get out of there with a grocery bill of $250, yep thats right $1000 a month, for 2 people. Ridiculous! And that didn't count if we were going to pick a few things up somewhere else!
When we moved and I stopped working 60 hour weeks I swore that I would do much better in the grocery department, spending $1000 on the basics just wasn't cutting it for me. I was determined to get the same or better quality foods for less. But this is besides the point, back to the whole foods price drops!
I think that whole foods has one of the best concepts of grocery stores, I can get a lot of healthy options here, yes I know they carry junk too (I didn't know until this trip that they carried general mills cereal, specifically Cheerios). When I heard about the price drops I was pretty excited thinking I couldn't have the occasional trip to Whole Foods and actually walk out of there with more than one bag of groceries for $200. So, I went in...
The Tour:
The day I visited I did not need any groceries, and I did this on purpose so I could focus on the prices. I started in the produce department, there were some things on sale but I was looking for those bright orange tags stating there had been a price drop.
Well let me tell you, I didn't find any sweet deals in the produce department that looked like this, the organic fruits and veggies were still quite expensive, they looked fresh and great, but were still pricey. I made my way to the refrigerated salad dressings section, as my husbands favorite lives here, and it was still there and it was still $6.99 per bottle, about $2 than I am willing to spend! (His favorite is the Barcelona Vinaigrette, I can make it at home with quality ingredients for cheaper)  |
Produce was the same prices as I remember. Did not see any bright range signs in the produce department just some Yellow "Sale" Signs which are normal for seasonal produce!
From here I made my way to the back of the produce section, where they keep the seafood. There was a couple of reduced prices here, on farmed fish (salmon and tilapia). I left for the dairy section unimpressed but still hopeful.
As I entered the dairy section I immediately noticed something there were some price drops on milk and eggs, but only on the 365 brand items, and not on any of the healthier versions of items that I would tend to purchase. Some of the eggs had been discounted mostly the cage free, and cage free organic, the prices on pasture raised organic eggs was still $2 higher than most other stores in the area.
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Here is the egg display. Vital Farms which is by far one of the best quality egg brands that Whole Foods sells is still at 7.99/ dozen (These are 6.99/dozen at Sprouts and often on sale for 5.99, I've even seen them as low as .99 close to their sell by date). The 365 Brand Eggs have been discounted by a couple of dollars leaving this generic store brand egg at 3.99 for Organic Cage Free, and 2.99 for regular brown eggs) Check out Demystifying Egg Labels to learn more about this!
The meat department proved to be more of a disappointment, while some of the standard products received a price reduction, the stage 4 and stage 5 meats remained the same price. The cheese section was the same!
Conclusion...
While I applaud Amazon for lowering some of the prices I think that that if they hope to increase sales they are going to need to do a little bit more. Their principles for profit are a lot like Walmart, they try for quantity. If they sell 50 of something at a $10 profit that is better than selling 20 of something at a $15 profit. Based on this here are my thoughts:
- The lower prices need to be more widespread
- Lowering prices will not lower the quality of products as they will sell a higher quantity, making the same amount of money or possibly even more
- For now I will continue to avoid Whole Foods until they do some serious revamping to their prices
- For pantry essentials I love Thrive Market (Check it out HERE and receive 25% off your first order)
- ButcherBox has been a great resource for grass fed meats, pasture raised chicken, and heritage breed pork as well as local farmers (Click HERE for $10 Off + FREE Bacon)
- Dairy, find a local one to help keep prices low and quality high
- Sprouts has some of the same products as Whole Foods usually at a lower price
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