{"id":1122,"date":"2015-05-14T09:25:00","date_gmt":"2015-05-14T16:25:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/?p=1122"},"modified":"2015-10-15T15:29:10","modified_gmt":"2015-10-15T22:29:10","slug":"whole-foods-does-not-realize-the-supermarket-is-dying","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2015\/05\/14\/whole-foods-does-not-realize-the-supermarket-is-dying\/","title":{"rendered":"Whole Foods does not realize the supermarket is dying"},"content":{"rendered":"

Whole Foods\u2019 Misguided Play for Millennials<\/a>
\n[Via HarvardBusiness.org<\/a><\/span>]<\/p>\n

\n

The news that Whole Foods will open a separate chain of stores designed to appeal to millennials stopped me mid-aisle. According to Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb, these future stores will feature \u201cmodern, streamlined design, innovative technology, and a curated selection\u201d of lower-priced organic and natural foods.<\/p>\n

As millennials would write\u2014facepalm<\/em>.<\/p>\n

My dismay is not about the concept. After all, who wouldn\u2019t love to shop for lower-priced, organic, and natural foods in a store that boasts a clean and modern design?\u00a0 My dismay is about how this new chain is being communicated to the public and designed to win in the marketplace.<\/p>\n

By describing this new concept as \u201cgeared toward millennial shoppers,\u201d Whole Foods is essentially saying one (or both) of the following:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Gen X and Baby Boomer shoppers are fine with or even prefer old, cluttered stores that sell a confusing array of stuff at high prices.<\/li>\n
  2. We (Whole Foods) need to create new stores because our current ones are old and cluttered and sell all sorts of poorly organized stuff at high prices.\"\"<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/div>\n

    [More<\/a>]<\/p>\n

    Supermarkets as we know them are going to disappear.We will not need one stop shopping for all our staples and other food products.<\/p>\n

    At least not one we traverse ourselves in person. When we do go out, it will be to smaller, more personal stores.<\/p>\n

    How do I know? I\u2019ve been using Amazon Fresh<\/a> for the last few months. It is a well stocked grocery store that can deliver my goods to the front door almost anytime I want.<\/p>\n

    Like before I wake up.<\/p>\n

    It remembers previous purchases, so I can easily select the things I want. Delivery is free with at least $50 purchase. Instead of making one large trip to the supermarket each week, I can order a couple of times a week from Amazon Fresh.<\/p>\n

    All while I am at home and can see just what I need. And the prices are the same or cheaper on almost every thing I checked. The selection is good and getting better.<\/p>\n

    I find I really only need to go to the supermarket occasionally to get fresh produce \u2013 Amazon Fresh has them but I still like picking out my own. And fresh meats.<\/p>\n

    I\u2019ve tried ordering things like chicken breasts from Amazon Fresh but when it comes to something like this, I;d rather see the entire selection and make my choice.<\/p>\n

    So really all I need is a good farmers market and a good butcher.<\/p>\n

    What happens to Whole Foods\u2019 great idea when Amazon simply includes the wonderful organic foods at Amazon Fresh?<\/p>\n

    Amazon Fresh is not everywhere yet. But I expect Amazon is working on that.<\/p>\n

    And Amazon has made some missteps with membership pricing<\/a> that may hamper its acceptance.<\/p>\n

    But someone will get this right<\/a>. Or supermarkets<\/a> themselves will get into the act.<\/p>\n

    I expect that the major way people will get their groceries in a few years will be home delivery. Large boutique stores would seem to a relic.<\/p>\n

    Especially if the home delivery service can also access the same organic markets.<\/p>\n

    Give me access to a good butcher or fresh produce and I would not need a supermarket.<\/p>\n

    Image: Sean Gregor<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Whole Foods\u2019 Misguided Play for Millennials [Via HarvardBusiness.org] The news that Whole Foods will open a separate chain of stores designed to appeal to millennials stopped me mid-aisle. According to Whole Foods co-CEO Walter Robb, these future stores will feature \u201cmodern, streamlined design, innovative technology, and a curated selection\u201d of lower-priced organic and natural foods. … Continue reading Whole Foods does not realize the supermarket is dying<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1129,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[22,26,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1122","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-21st-century-company","category-distributed-democracy","category-exponential-economy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i1.wp.com\/www.spreadingscience.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/05\/grocery.0012.jpg?fit=1920%2C1080&ssl=1","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pe2yp-i6","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":897,"url":"https:\/\/www.spreadingscience.com\/2012\/08\/01\/reinventing-the-wheel-by-ignoring-your-internal-experts\/","url_meta":{"origin":1122,"position":0},"title":"Reinventing the wheel by ignoring your internal experts","date":"August 1, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0lusikkolbaskin Charlie Kindel on Microsoft, the Hardware Company [Via Daring Fireball] Charlie Kindel: I know some of the people who drove the Xbox360 hardware design and supply chain management. 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