Amazon has announced that they are buying Whole Foods Market. Now, Whole Foods is one of the biggest supermarket chains in the U.S. Now, Amazon, is huge. They are a behemoth. They’re worth nearly half a trillion U.S. dollars. So, this move is certainly something that shakes up the retail world especially those that are running supermarkets around the world. In fact, stock prices, some of these are already plummeting. So, what does this mean for you? As a consumer, or somebody in business?

My Thoughts

Let’s look back. Last year, Amazon showed off a new concept in retail where you would walk into a store, just scan your phone and then grab whatever you wanted off the store shelves and walk out again. No cashier, no checkout.

AmazonGo is the name of the first version of this concept. And it’s something that sounds quite transformative in terms of retail. We, of course, know that Amazon will be working on lots of other things to change the buying experience for consumers.

For instance, you have the ability of Amazon to ship goods for free, some things delivered within one hour. Groceries, books, electronics, all sorts of products.

So, they’re really are stirring things up. Add in the sorts of technologies that they’ve been experimenting with and using a new practical basis for a number of years like robotics, drones, of course, comes into that experimental feel for them.

They’re really leading the charge in terms of change in the area of retail, both in the U.S and around the world. Leading to massive disruption over the years.

Uniquely, Amazon tend to be quite comfortable to operate without making a profit. So, this is another thing, obviously scares some other retailers who are already dealing with thin margins, finding it hard to make a profit, competing to a company that doesn’t seem too interested in making profits.

What’s happening now is, this is a thirteen-billion-dollar acquisition for Amazon, not too much money for them to have acquired Whole Food in the scheme of it. What it means is that, we will see probably an acceleration of what Amazon have been doing in terms of trying to turn the retail world upside-down within a direct online selling.

This really put’s them squarely into people’s neighborhood, certainly in the U.S where people will see those stores.

Now, we don’t know exactly what they’re going to do and of course, in the past, Amazon have taken some different approaches.

Zappos, purchased quite a number of years ago, they’ve let that operate fairly independently from the Amazon as their peer on. So, there’s no guarantee on what they’re going to do, but I think certainly, there will be a number of organizations that are feeling a little bit uneasy.

So, what’s my recommendation for you? Well, as an individual, I think, look, it’s important that we keep an eye on what’s going on out there.

We utilize the best of technology that’s coming through. Don’t be scared about the changes that are taking place.

Sure, if you’re working in the supermarket and the retail world, well, think about how you can add more value on what you do so that you’re a valuable player regardless of what happens in terms of disruption to that industry so that you’re super valuable wherever you’re working and will be valuable in another industry too. So, that’s important.

If you’re not working in that space, well, you get to kind of watch and enjoy the ride of wave where the technology is taking us. If you’re in business, well, if you’re in the retail space, then you want to do what I recommend for all businesses just to stay in the forefront of technology, utilizing what’s happening, know what’s coming, what changes are happening in your industry and work on how you can differentiate your business, how can you deliver something that’s unique and better and really serves your customers in a fantastic way.

If you’re doing that, you minimize what the impact is of these big, global players as they start coming in and try to eat your lunch which is not something you probably want.

Alright, well, that’s it for me this week. So, thank you for joining me on the video. You can of course follow me on social media and you can find my updates by registering at paulspain.com/updates.

Recommended quotes for social media:
1.“It’s important that we keep an eye on what’s going on out there. We utilize the best of technology that’s coming through.”
2. “Don’t be scared about the changes that are taking place.”
3. “Think about how you can add more value on what you do so that you’re a valuable player regardless of what happens in terms of disruption to that industry so that you’re super valuable wherever you’re working and will be valuable in another industry too.”
4. “To stay in the forefront of technology, utilize what’s happening, know what’s coming, what changes are happening in your industry and work on how you can differentiate your business, how can you deliver something that’s unique and better and really serves your customers in a fantastic way.”