Jan 31, 2023 - Economy

Whole Foods Market asks suppliers to cut prices

Kelly Tyko

Amazon's Whole Food Markets has asked suppliers to lower prices. Photo: Gado/Getty Images

Whole Foods Market is looking to cut prices, which could help it shake its longtime nickname “Whole Paycheck.”

Driving the news: The Amazon-owned grocery store chain is asking its suppliers to help cut costs on packaged groceries as consumers continue to deal with inflation, The Wall Street Journal reports.

Whole Foods made the request to suppliers during a virtual summit in December, according to The Journal.
The company told The Journal that its rate of price increases has been lower than the industry standard and the company is committed to ensuring prices reflect easing inflation.
A Whole Foods spokesperson confirmed the suppliers’ pricing request to Axios Tuesday.

The big picture: The meteoric rise in food prices slowed slightly in December, per a new Axios analysis — but prices were still up more than 10% year-over-year.

While grocery items have broadly gotten more expensive, no food item has been impacted by inflation as much as eggs and their prices often give a clue about the current economic environment.

Flashback: Amazon acquired Whole Foods Market in August 2017 for $13.7 billion and the companies said in a joint statement at the time that there was a “vision of making Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone."

Whole Foods prices were lowered at the start of the acquisition and in 2018 an Amazon Prime member discount was introduced.

Amazon and Whole Foods announced another round of price cuts in April 2019.

Context: Amazon Prime members save an extra 10% off on in-store sale prices excluding alcohol at Whole Foods.

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