Amazon’s new customer for food: its new grocery stores

© Mohamed Ahmed Soliman | Dreamstime.com - Whole Foods Market logo

The $13.7bn purchase of the Whole Foods grocery stores by Amazon has been a seismic shock to the business world. Many wonder what the deal means for the grocer’s current e-commerce fulfilment partner, Instacart, but this analysis from Stratechery suggests the implications run far deeper. There is a long game at play here, and a distinctly “Amazonian” one at that.

“Today, all of the logistics that go into a Whole Foods store are for the purpose of stocking physical shelves; the entire operation ...