The estimated USD 2 billion in food and beverage sales is only a fraction of what Amazon paid in the USD 13.7 billion acquisition of Whole Foods.
Customer traffic in Whole Foods locations spiked by 25% in the first two days after the acquisition, and Amazon Fresh also experienced a strong increase in sales after the announcement, even before any new products were released on Amazon.com.
Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, meanwhile, is helping to fuel growth in the US support and logistics industry as more grocery sales move online.
Weekly sales of Amazon Fresh more than doubled over the course of the year, climbing from approximately USD 3 million in January to over USD 7 million by the end of 2017 to reach an estimated USD 350 million in total sales.
Internationally, beverages represented at least 18 of the top 20 grocery items in the US, UK and Germany, though in the latter two countries a significant portion of sales were in alcoholic beverages. Beer, Wine & Spirits is the largest grocery category in both of those countries, at least doubling the size of the #2 category and growing at a very rapid rate – 96% in the UK and 230% in Germany YoY.
Coffee is also a top category across all three countries, with 12 of the top 20 items in the UK. In Germany, Baby/Infant Milk was responsible for each of the top eight grocery items of 2017 and generating an estimated USD 30 million in sales – though experiencing negligible YoY growth.
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