Whole Foods Raises Prices on Hundreds of Items | Eater
"Long viewed as an upscale, "Whole Paycheck" grocer, this chain lowered many prices after being acquired by Amazon in 2017 but has raised prices again — reportedly increasing more than 500 items since December, from Haagen-Dazs ice cream to olives, with average hikes around $0.66 and some Dr. Bronner’s soap varieties up several dollars. Internal messages and reporting attribute the changes to higher supplier costs, inflation and the expiration of contracts that kept hundreds of goods at low prices (contracts the chain says won’t be renewed); the increases reportedly add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional weekly revenue. The company says it has absorbed much of the inflation, continues to run promotions, and introduced exclusive Prime-member discounts in mid-2018 (including an extra 10% off sale items and rotating weekly deals), but non-Prime shoppers are seeing fewer discounts and the retailer has scaled back its cheaper 365 stores. The Amazon acquisition also strained relationships with small food companies, leaving shoppers facing tougher choices about where and how to buy groceries." - Whitney Filloon
