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Amazon, Whole Foods and the Transformation of Retail - The View from Social

Retail is going through a pretty substantial transformation and the question is becoming: Will Amazon just take over everything??

Read our full report on the transformation of retail

How the News Spread on Social

On June 16th news broke of an acquisition that had the potential to reshape the retail industry. Amazon was buying Whole Foods for $13.7 billion and social media went to into meltdown with opinions and jokes aplenty. Here a couple, that I think give a nice flavor of the kind of snap discussions that were taking place.

Overall, there were around a quarter of a million mentions of the deal across online and social media on the day of the announcement with discussion peaking moments after the first announcement:

Amazon Whole Foods Social Buzz

Although the drop in conversation looks pretty significant this is mostly because the peak was so high - news media in particular are still pumping out articles on different aspects of the acquisition at a rate of around a thousand per day across the English-speaking world.

When the news hit, it spread instantly and within 10 minutes it had reached across the globe. The GIF below shows exactly how quickly this happened with each dot representing a new post on the topic. And it all happened in that first 10 minutes.

Amazon Whole Foods News Spread

Drones, Prices, Competitors - Deal Could Have Many, Far-Reaching Outcomes

One of the many fascinating aspects of this deal is just how many things could happen next. With Amazon’s relentless attitude towards innovation, everyone is now expecting drone delivered groceries ordered after a brief discussion with Alexa. It seems to have given people a glimpse into the future . This tweet from Mashable kind of sums it up:

So exactly what were people talking about? It ranged from drones and Alexa integration to robot cashiers, but the biggest conversation point was how this would affect traditional retailers like Walmart, Target and Kroger and the possibility of Whole Foods lowering their famously high prices:

 

Amazon Whole Foods Top Topics

But over the last two days discussion has switched again with the focus now on the impact robots may have on the Whole Foods business with robot usage in warehouses getting wide coverage across the media.

Key topics of Amazon Whole Foods Discussion

It’s an example of the many faces of this deal and no doubt the focus of attention will continue to shift around as news of Amazon’s plans keep coming.

Learn more about retail innovations in our retail report

It’s not looking great for Walmart, Kroger and Target

What does this mean for the retail industry? The main thread of responses suggest things aren’t looking good for other retailers and stock markets agreed, with share prices in Walmart, Kroger and Target plummeting following the announcement.

Amazon Whole Foods Competitors Stock Price

Whole Foods’ share price by contrast soared up and has stayed at a high level ever since. What may be even more telling is that Walmart did actually announce an acquisition themselves on June 16th - they bought menswear brand Bonobos for $310m - but it was completely overshadowed by the admittedly much larger Amazon Whole Foods deal:

Amazon Walmart Comparison

 

Will Amazon Now Take Over Retail Entirely?

It will no doubt take some time before Amazon’s intentions become clear but in the meantime speculation will continue – here are a few things that social media has been discussing as Amazon continues to transform retail. 

Amazon Wardrobe

Long considered one of the few things online shopping couldn’t replace - trying on clothes before you bought them - Amazon just announced Prime Wardrobe: a “Try Before You Buy” box. Shoppers will be able to order 3-15 items of clothing to test out, keeping only the items they wish to purchase.

Since the announcement of Prime Wardrobe, there have been nearly 20,000 mentions of the service online. Many of those mentions include clothing subscription services Stitch Fix and Trunk Club, once viewed retail disruptors, which are now about to have their model disrupted by Amazon as well.

Brick & Mortar Bookstores

Ironically, as Amazon was a significant player in the reduction or flat-out demise of major booksellers (Barnes & Noble, Borders- companies which at their peak also put many independent booksellers out of business), Amazon is now getting into the brick-and-mortar bookstore business.

Brick and Mortar Bookstores

Not everyone is thrilled. The New Yorker’s Jia Tolentino claims “Amazon’s Brick-and-Mortar Bookstores Are Not Build For People Who Actually Read,” in an article that reached nearly 16.2 million people. The stores focus on a book’s ratings (only 4+ stars) and data to suggest new books (“If you like X, then you’ll like Y”), rather than carrying a large inventory like traditional booksellers. Prime members receive discounted pricing.  

For more about the changing state of retail beyond Amazon, check out our full report below.

Retail Social Media Analytics Report

This blog was written by Richard Sunley and Erin Neary.

Image Credit: Masahiro Ihara via Flickr

Share price graphic made using markets.ft

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