Amazon Acquisition of Whole Foods: Marketing Strategies (Research Paper Sample)

190511890AMAZON ACQUISITION OF WHOLE FOODS: MARKETING STRATEGIES
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1. Introduction
The US retail business is a multi-billion industry. This characterization is, at face value, true. At a deeper analysis level, however, US retail industry has witnessed waves of radical changes in recent years. These waves have not only changed how US retail industry is characterized beyond conventional quantitative methods (e.g. sales volumes) but, most importantly, by qualitative methods. More specifically, in contrast to a revenue-based business model by which successful retailers are defined based on broad physical store presence, market share, distribution channels, extensive supplier networks and diverse product offerings, successful US retailers are increasingly defined based on data-analytics methods by which not only customer shopping habits and experience are accurately identified but equally accurately anticipated. These methods include, but are not limited to, sensor-enabled shopping carts; robots-in-lieu-of-human-sales assistants; and, more generally, automated, application-based shopping methods. The shift in business model from brick-and-mortar sales volume into a customer-oriented shopping experience enhanced by numerous automation methods model can, accordingly, be said to be a major defining shift in US retail industry business practice. For current purposes, one strategic move made recently by a major online retailer to acquire a private label organic food company is of primary interest. The acquisition of Whole Foods by Amazon is, more specifically, central focus of current research project.