Amazon – Whole Foods – Instacart

 

Big Red Car here on a slightly dark day. But, hey, who cares? Merry Christmas! Happy Holidays!

So, Amazon (talking Amazon Prime, y’all) bought Whole Foods.

Whole Foods had just entered into a deal with Instacart to deliver groceries from Whole Foods to their customers.

Of course, Amazon is in the delivery business themselves, so there was a conflict brewing. Right?

Not really, y’all, Amazon/Whole Foods pulled the plug on Instacart. Come on, you saw that coming from the produce section of WF. Yes, you did.

Instacart seems to have seen the handwriting on the wall and is taking it in stride [well, maybe not, but a broken heart hurts, right?]

The move is not inconsequential to Instacart — 1,415 employees in 76 Whole Foods will disappear starting in February. Instacart is paying any employees they cannot place at another location a three month severance payment.

Also, Instacart says it will be a small hit in the 1-5% of gross revenue range.

Instacart just raised $600MM at a $7.6B value. They’re going to be fine.

The point is this — the big boys like Amazon are not going to let even innovative companies eat from their chili bowl.

This is what a tech monster like Amazon does. It is their sweet spot, their wheelhouse. They were never going to let Instacart serve them. Ever.

But, hey, what the Hell do I really know anyway? I’m just a Big Red Car. Merry Christmas. Happy Holidays.