From Online Cart to Plate: What Amazon's Retail Domination Means for the Future of Food

Abstract

Amazon's 2017 purchase of Whole Foods Market seemed to suddenly make this commercial giant a notable player in food retail. However, as we demonstrate below, this development was neither sudden nor surprising. Amazon's business strategy has paved the way both for this acquisition, and for the other surreptitious ways in which it is chipping its way into food retail. We argue that these developments are motivated by Amazon's goal of becoming a one-stop-shop for all consumer goods for as many customers as possible, which would in turn allow Amazon to expand as the key global broker for consumer data. Although Amazon's tactics have little to do with food itself, the implications to food retail and more generally to food systems around the globe could be momentous.

Systematic Stakeholder Inclusion in Digital Agriculture: A Framework and Application to Canada

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Big data, information asymmetry, and food supply chain management for resilience

“…Amazon's entry into the food sector, first through its acquisition of Whole Foods and now through regional distribution centers known as "dark stores," has spurred other large food retailers to follow suit and invest in distributed ledger systems, also known as blockchain technology. Independent food businesses and their supply chains are at a considerable disadvantage in these wholesale markets dominated by large grocery chains because they are left out of the information flow, have insufficient capital to develop their own proprietary digital business ecosystems, and lack the necessary coordination between strategic partners (Livingstone & Knezevic, 2020;Navickas & Gruzaukas, 2016).…”