Former Book Seller Vs. Mega-Mart And Search Engine: Who Will Win?

Published in

The Global Voice

4 min readSep 2, 2017

Predictably, Amazon and Walmart have just increased the odds in their eternal game of tug of war. Amazon has Whole Foods under their belt, bringing in both a profitable industry (groceries and food) and a plethora of new consumers (their primary target: 20-something vegans eager on organic foods, and helicopter moms who believe that GMOs cause cancer).

Walmart has a new member by its side: Google. Google has upped Walmart’s failing online business by letting Walmart use their online retailing service Google Express. My analysis on this recent rivalry, from a consumer’s point of view, goes in three phases:

Phase #1: What Amazon Will Do With Whole Foods

Amazon buying Whole Foods was both very bold and very intelligent. I think Amazon will try to bring up Whole Foods’s image of “organic and fresh” into their latest shopping add-on, AmazonFresh. I also believe that Amazon cutting off Whole Foods’ prices by a whopping 43% can harm Whole Foods’ profit margin. Since Whole Foods brings organic, imported, and local foods to the table of supermarket businesses, they’ll needs to overprice their foods — significantly.

An average supermarket only gets $1 in revenue for every $100 sold. Amazon’s price slash could mean either big, booming business for Whole Foods or fewer items on the shelf. It is a win-win situation for Amazon either way, and here’s why:

If Whole Foods Does Well In Sales: This scenario would change things in a very subtle way. I firmly believe that if Amazon lowered Whole Foods’ prices, then there would be a strong bond with new consumers, and an even stronger bond between existing customers. Then, over the years, Amazon would slowly, but surely, sneak up the higher prices back into the products, and integrate Whole Foods, little by little, into their online business.

If Whole Foods Does Worse In Sales: If Whole Foods ends up flopping up and down like a Magikarp, Amazon has more than enough incentive to change the organic superstore to an online organic superstore. So, this means that Amazon will directly attempt to establish a stable online groceries chain with existing Whole Foods centers as “outlets” for storage and delivery (of course, while integrating their ambitious plan of delivering with drones).

Phase #2: What Google Will Do With Walmart

On the other side, we have Google and Walmart teaming-up to defeat Amazon on their A-game.

Using Google Express, Walmart can now deliver to homes much easier, and advertise on another platform (a.k.a. the most popular search engine in the world).

To be perfectly honest, I do not see clearly where Walmart and Google are going. Are they hoping to get a lucky surge of consumers? Or is it to stabilize them as a present and sturdy force in the e-commerce industry? I am not sure.

One thing that is very clear in Google and Walmart’s three legged race with Amazon and Whole Foods, is that the former has started a little too late in the competition.

Phase #3: Who Will Win, And Who Has “The Edge”?

Now Amazon will need to fight a foe twice in size and effort. However, Amazon was given a head start in this race of e-groceries, and has taken full advantage over the competition. Amazon has a loyal base of supporters and now adding Whole Foods into the mix can add even more loyal customers. Amazon also has the edge in online shopping overall, with its reputation for fast delivering and combining niche markets and gathering them in a common marketplace.

Google and Walmart, on the other hand, are not so lucky. Walmart is known for their physical stores and the large, cheap variety that they bring. Google is known for searching up random pictures of cats, or just anything general, like “What is 2 to the 5th?” or something like that.

Let me give you a clear example of how Amazon has the edge:

Let’s say my mom and dad wanted to buy a book about test preparations for the SATs. My mom would always say, “Well, go check the price on Amazon!”

Let’s take the same scenario, but my parents wanted to know what the SATs are. My mom would instead say, “Google it!”

You see the association here? If it is for buying online, it would be Amazon for my parents, but if it were to search for something, then it would be Google for my parents. It is that simple.

The most entertaining part? The two companies are now dueling off in voice-commanded groceries shopping. Next time you forgot to buy milk at the supermarket, worry not! Now with your Amazon Echo or Google Home, you can now order it at your house and get it delivered. Even though this shopping format is still in its first days, this will turn out to be a huge part of our future.

Takeaways:

As a consumer, I see this as a fruitful and hopeful change as well as a recent surge that will benefit all three companies in the race. This competition of sorts also means better deals for buyers, more benefits, more searches, gaining popularity, and a formal introduction of online grocers. Amazon and Walmart have put this much dedication into their grocery businesses. Frankly, I believe that it is just about time to introduce this form of shopping, uncommon to millions, maybe billions of people shopping in many traditional, well-established grocery stores.

References:

Former Book Seller Vs. Mega-Mart And Search Engine: Who Will Win?

Written by Madhumitha Manivannan