Processed food giants are all feeling Amazon's heat: Stuart Varney
"We are determined to make healthy and organic food affordable to everyone.” When Jeff Wilke said that, the food industry and the grocery business shuddered, again. Why? Because he is the chief executive of Amazon Worldwide Consumer, and he was announcing price cuts at Whole Foods, the chain Amazon just bought. Kale just got cheaper.
And so did the stock prices of retailers who face a price war: Kroger’s, Costco Wholesale, Walmart. Even in Europe, Tesco and Sainsbury's went down. That’s the Amazon effect.
In the food industry, Amazon is amplifying a trend that’s already in place: The shift towards fresh, and away from processed.
As Amazon dropped the price of kale, investors dropped the stocks of the most famous food brands in the world: Mondelez - that’s Oreo's, Chips Ahoy, Triscuits, Cadbury, Trident Gum, Conagra - Reddi-wip, Hebrew National, Tang (remember that?), Kellog’s, Smucker’s - the jam people, Nestle - Toll House Cookies, Kit-Kat and 100 other brands, Hormel - Dinty Moore Stew, Skippy Peanut Butter, and yes, Spam – all down!
Every supermarket you go into, just about anywhere in the world, is dominated by these processed food giants, and they're all feeling Amazon's heat. Imagine that! One American company buys one fresh-food chain, and the ripples go out everywhere.
So when Jeff Wilke speaks, the world listens. And nobody wants to hear that Jeff is aiming at their industry next.
