Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

It does make sense because that is Amazon's modus operandi. They are the Walmart of online shopping; one place for everything and it's cheap too. They don't really associate themselves with quality or try to win over those brands, in fact luxury brands have fled from Amazon for a while now.

(See: https://qz.com/807419/is-it-even-possible-to-sell-luxury-on-..., among other articles that you can find from googling.)

But I agree that it's very strange that Amazon is buying Whole Foods, which is a luxury grocery store, to then try to replicate Walmart. This will just alienate the customer base and drive them to Traders Joes, Coops, etc.




They don't really care about the customer base. They figure their own customer base is bigger than anybody else's already. They wanted an in on the grocery retail business, and WF was a way in.

I guess we will have to just wait and see what happens. Normally when one company buys another, they say "nothing will change," which means that in six months all trace of the thing will be gone.

Personally, I'm not looking forward to the change. One of the things I like about WF is that they're pretty good about stocking products from local/regional producers. And they have a pretty good cheese section. I'm betting Amazon will not care about these things.


> They are the Walmart of online shopping;

What are you basing this on? Amazon (Prime) customers are way more wealthier than Walmart customers:

https://fortunedotcom.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/screen-sho...


hostile relationships with suppliers; poor treatment of employees; shoddy store conditions - the UI is utterly wretched!


>"the UI is utterly wretched"

Aesthetically perhaps, but it seems very well designed in terms of making purchasing painless, which is part of the reason Amazon do so well.

I do try to avoid buying things on Amazon now though, they've gotten too big, it's a little scary how much influence they have on online retail.


You can purchase ever so easily, determining the what you are purchasing is not. The product descriptions and specs have been lacking since inception.


But the reviews remain highly reliable in many cases. Fakespot and other services have popped up to address the gaming aspect of reviews.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: