Big changes at Whole Foods are scary - Winter Fancy Food Show Observations, San Francisco, Ca
The company has had well publicized out-of-stocks, is no longer allowing in-store demos, has cooled off as a place to incubate new ideas, and has rolled out a new program that is being labeled as slotting fees (and, perhaps even more noteworthy, appears to be a campaign to eliminate brokers).
I find this very interesting for two reasons. First, most brands continue to speak very highly of Amazon’s core e-commerce platform/business. Second, it’s amazing that a company that used to be an industry darling has so quickly moved to a much less favored status. I’m sure some of this will smooth out in the long run, but I anticipate this to be an even bigger talking point in March at Natural Products Expo West.