The business world is awhirl as plenty of so-called experts consider the expensive marriage of online juggernaut Amazon with Whole Foods, the pricey grocery retailer known for prioritizing healthy choices and natural foods. Though Amazon hasn’t said so, analysts are contemplating how Amazon’s innovative automation throughout its businesses will manifest in the Whole Foods franchise. Checkout cashiers are naturally first on the chopping block, according to analysts, since they are the low-hanging fruit of automation.
But it’s hard to predict. Yes, Amazon always looks for inefficiencies to improve, so the idea that it will inject further discipline into Whole Foods operations is a given. But the good news for shoppers and ultimately for the health of the company is that Jeff Bezos, the Amazon king, won’t make any rash moves to justify the huge purchase of Whole Foods to Amazon shareholders. Bezos has demonstrated over and over his ability to ignore what Wall Street thinks of his priorities, especially when it comes to his (lack of) focus on profits. Instead Bezos has traveled his own path with guidance from his own vision, a journey upon which short term considerations are not even given the back seat. They get no seat at all. Bezos will do what he thinks will be good for Whole Foods in five years, while Wall Street watches things like quarterly same store sales.
