Price cuts drive 25 % more customers to Whole Foods

Supermarket chain Whole Foods welcomed an additional 25 % of customers in the first few days following Amazon’s price cuts.

Curious customers

Last month, Amazon announced it would instantly lower the prices for a series of products at Whole Foods by up to 50 %. That strategy paid off instantly, because market research firm Foursquare Labs says, on average, about 25 % more customers went to a Whole Foods store. Some stores even attracted 35 % more customers.

The strong surge is mostly thanks to the amount of publicity the price cuts received, piquing the customers’ interest. It remains to be seen whether the price cuts were steep enough to keep those interested customers coming to Whole Foods. It is a first bright sign for Amazon though, having recently purchased Whole Foods as its first step into the world of physical supermarkets.

Amazon has also benefited from the acquisition online, because it added 2,000 Whole Foods 365 Everyday products on its own web shop. A large part of its most popular products quickly sold out. Estimates indicate about half a million dollars’ worth of Whole Foods items were sold on Amazon in the first week.