Sponsored by the A&M Consumer and Retail Group, Mirakl, Ocampo Capital, Infios, and Quorso. After eight years, Amazon finally absorbs Whole Foods corporate employees into Amazon teams, eliminating the grocery chain's distinct culture and benefits. Chris and Anne debate whether this signals Amazon Grocery's desperation or sets up bigger strategic moves ahead.

For the full #fastfive episode head here: https://youtu.be/838xKELS_nI

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On November 10, Amazon plans to extend new employment offers to Whole Foods US Corporate employees.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the employees who work in roles including marketing and merchandising will have about a month to review their new titles, salaries and benefits.

The move is designed to bring Amazon's grocery teams closer together and ease collaboration and innovation.

Whole Foods corporate employees will have access to an Amazon discount and healthcare benefits.

However, they will lose certain Whole Foods perks such as their in store discount and oh boy, that's got to hurt your monthly budget because we know how fricking expensive Whole Foods is.

And they also will lose four weeks of remote work per year.

Interesting.

And why would Amazon absorb Whole Foods merchandising and marketing teams after what is now eight years since the original acquisition?

I mean, I think it's pretty simple.

I think that Amazon Grocery needs a lifeline for, but for me it really begs the question, you know, can you put a square Whole Foods peg in around Amazon Whole?

I think this will be a great opportunity for some people at Whole Foods who are really looking to, you know, expand their capabilities, put another large company on their resume like Amazon.

But I really worry that for a lot of people who work at Whole Foods, a lot of people that you and I have met in our years of doing this show, we.

Working at Whole Foods was never really about, you know, the tech first approach that Amazon provides.

Working at Whole Foods has always been about the strong connection that they've had to the places that the merchandisers are sourcing product from.

You know, it's telling that story as a marketer of where the, you know, potatoes that you're buying here in the store came from and about the farm like that whole, that whole ethos of Whole Foods and Whole Foods being a value based organization.

I think this is just the next step in going another, another step away from that.

And really changing Whole Foods is as a grocer and what it means as a company to work for.

So I think it's going to be problematic for a lot of people who probably, you know, who have to take that job, who don't have the choice and have to continue on.

I think the, that passion that they have for doing their job day in and day out is going to change significantly when they're, they're being hit over the head by the teams at Amazon about, you know, moving fast and scale, scale, scale, like that's just, that's not in the Whole Foods ethos.

So I, I worry, I think it's, Amazon has to do this because they need help to support their future in grocery.

But I worry that the quality of the merchandising and marketing is going to suffer because people aren't working for Whole Foods anymore.

They're working for Amazon.

Why do you think it's taken them so long?

I don't know.

I disagree that Amazon has to do this.

And, you know, I read this story and I get my.

My little antenna go up, you know, my little, like, take me to your leader antenna and go up here.

Because something just doesn't.

Something just doesn't smell right to me, you know, like, you know, because my question is, you know, fundamental with the question that we asked, which is, why wait eight years if you're going to do this?

That's why I don't think, like, that's why I'm not buying the.

A supposition that it has to be done.

And so it actually makes me wonder if something else is afoot here with Amazon and its grocery strategy and particularly how Whole Foods plays into that.

And this could be a move where they're lining up the dominoes for, you know, three to five years out for something that they've got in play, like maybe an acquisition.

I don't know.

But, but I.

The part I agree with you 100% is that as of November 10, the Whole Foods ness that remained, any Whole Foods ness that remained is now gone.

It's.

It's eviscerated.

You know, Larry work for Whole Foods, you work for Amazon.

And you know, this has been true, and it has been true for the last eight years.

But now, like, I think what you're saying is there's a clear psychological break here that's going to happen.

And now that's gone.

And so, so why, so why do that after eight years?

Like, why wouldn't you do that in year two or year three if you're going to make that move?

So if you.

It feels like.

It feels like the chess pieces are lining up on the board or the dominoes, whatever the hell, you know, board game analogy I want to use here for something bigger down the line.

That's what this smells like to me.

I don't know.

What do you think?

I mean, I don't know.

They were going to run this as a separate entity because Amazon still had its own grocery strategy.

And I think that things have changed a lot in, you know, almost 10 years since that happened.

And I do think that we've seen signs of struggle from Amazon Grocery and I think that they do need to like, I do feel like this is kind of a last resort for them.

Like they're going to have to merge the teams, become one they can't keep as separate entities anymore.

I don't think that's working and I think that this is the time where they have to come together because Amazon sees that.

I don't disagree with like they're setting something up for the next three to five years, but I think that they've reached a point where the two cannot operate as separate entities anymore.

If Amazon's going Amazon Grocery is going to survive.

They need to bring in the Whole Foods team with a wealth of grocery experience to really try to make something of this before they just walk away from it entirely.

Not sure I agree with that one.

But hey, we agree to disagree today.

All right.

I like it.