Heavy Duty Trucking Logo
MenuMENU
SearchSEARCH

Commentary: Why the Amazon-Whole Foods Deal May Not Mean Much

Some are predicting the Amazon-Whole Foods acquisition will be a game-changer but it may not be as big of a deal for trucking as we think, says Business Contributing Editor Evan Lockridge in his August Hotline column.

Evan Lockridge
Evan LockridgeFormer Business Contributing Editor
August 8, 2017
Commentary: Why the Amazon-Whole Foods Deal May Not Mean Much

 

3 min to read


Pardon me if I am not excited about Amazon.com’s June announcement that it plans to purchase Whole Foods Market. While some people, both inside and outside of trucking, are predicting it will be a game-changer after it closes sometime in the second half of this year, it may not be as big of a deal for trucking as they think.

Ad Loading...

For starters, Whole Foods captured just 1.7% of the $750 billion grocery market last year. In contrast, Walmart has the largest slice at 17.3%. When you consider that Walmart and seven other companies have a combined market share of nearly half of the U.S. market, it’s easy to see that Amazon is getting only a small slice of the nation’s grocery pie.

Second, while Amazon is no doubt king of online sales, it has little experience running brick and mortar stores. With its purchase of Whole Foods, it gets more than 460 of them, and 87,000 additional employees. Only recently has Amazon branched out from its online confines, opening just a few dozen small “pop up” stores in malls to showcase its electronics devices, plus less than a dozen bookstores.

Ad Loading...

Third, while experts have speculated that the deal will be a big boost for the grocery delivery market (helping Amazon broaden its fledgling AmazonFresh and Amazon Go grocery offerings), the fact is that delivering groceries, especially perishables, isn’t the same as delivering books and music.

Amazon.com got its start delivering these items to customers and then branched out to most any kind of item you could need (and many you don’t.) But these items don’t go bad if it takes a while for them to get delivered. Perishable items are another matter. Most of the perishable items Amazon currently offers are fulfilled by third-party retailers. In other words, they leave it to someone else to do the worrying.

If Amazon really wants to convince people to rely on getting fresh fruits, vegetables and other perishable items online, rather than going to grocery stores, they have even bigger obstacles.

One is last mile delivery. Let’s face it, the big boys like UPS and FedEx struggle enough around Christmas to get things delivered on time. A sudden influx of groceries into their systems from Amazon/Whole Foods would either bog them down or be cost prohibitive for many customers, at least in the short term.

Then there is a bigger issue of inbound fresh production transportation and logistics. As outlined in a webinar hosted by the investment firm, Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., large, publicly traded and privately owned truckload carriers tend to shy away from the produce market due to its volatility. Getting fresh produce from the field to distribution centers is often handled by small fleets and independents who push hours of service rules to make their deliveries on time. With the coming electronic logging device mandate that will be much harder to do.

Ad Loading...

Amazon is no doubt taking a gamble in purchasing Whole Foods and has many other things to deal with in this acquisition, but when you’re Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, you can afford to take such a risk.

The easiest money for Amazon may be not to tinker much with Whole Foods, but instead enjoy its profits, which totaled $507 million last year. The longshot gamble is a grocery revolution. But I’m not betting on it.

Subscribe to Our Newsletter

More Fleet Management

Illustration of a chalkboard with a hand drawing an arrow curving away from a partially erased straight arrow with the words "Embracing Change," the Heavy Duty Trucking Logo and the "cover feature" graphic.
Fleet Managementby Deborah LockridgeAugust 1, 2026

How Innovative Trucking Leaders Turn Change Into an Advantage

As the pace of change accelerates in trucking, the fleets that adapt best have more than the latest technology. They have cultures that embrace improvement.

Read More →
Illustration of past due invoices with red X on top with background of a truck at a loading dock
Fleet ManagementJuly 27, 2026

Freight Broker Bonds Just Got Harder to Get. Here's What That Means for Your Fleet.

When it gets harder for a freight broker to prove they are financially sound, the ones who cannot clear that bar get pushed out of the market. And those are exactly the brokers who used to leave motor carriers holding the bag.

Read More →
Photo of cable bridge crossing Detroit River
Fleet Managementby Deborah LockridgeJuly 23, 2026

Long-Awaited Canadian Border Bridge to Open in Detroit

For trucking, the bridge opening should offer immediate improvements in efficiency and reliability, with new customs facilities, expanded inspection capacity, and direct freeway-to-freeway connections.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Blue International heavy-duty truck with Aurora driverless truck software coming head-on on an interstate highway
Equipmentby Deborah LockridgeJuly 22, 2026

Aurora Rolls Out Next Generation of Driverless Trucks for Commercial Freight

Aurora's latest autonomous trucks it's rolling out with International feature lower-cost hardware designed for a million miles as the company expands commercial driverless freight operations across the U.S. Sun Belt.

Read More →
American Trucking Associations for-hire tonnage graph
Fleet Managementby Deborah LockridgeJuly 21, 2026

Freight Tonnage Down, Rates up, as Lower Capacity Powers Trucking Recovery

The recovery from the freight recession continues to be driven by reduction in capacity rather than by increased demand.

Read More →
Cyberstop column header depicting images of ChatGPT prompt on a smartphone and shadowy hooded figure
Fleet Managementby Ben WilkensJuly 17, 2026

Think Your Trucking Fleet Isn't Using Much AI? Think Again

Shadow AI — the use of unauthorized artificial intelligence tools at work — is becoming increasingly common, putting sensitive company data at risk. Learn how trucking fleets can protect sensitive data while embracing AI.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
Photo of semi trucks with Panther, ArcBest, and ABF trailers backed up to docks, with ArcBest logo superimposed on top
Fleet Managementby Deborah LockridgeJuly 17, 2026

ArcBest Consolidates Brands, Cuts Workforce

The company will bring three business units under the ArcBest brand, eliminate about 2% of positions, and expects the changes to generate $40 million in annual savings.

Read More →
Cover of ATRI operational costs study with graph clip art and photo of trucks on highway in the background
Fleet Managementby Deborah LockridgeJuly 15, 2026

Trucking Fleets Faced Record Operating Costs During Third Year of Freight Recession

ATRI's annual operational cost report shows carriers trimmed fleets, delayed equipment purchases, and ran older trucks as expenses continued to outpace freight rates.

Read More →
Micheline AI Assistant.

Michelin Adds AI Assistant to MyConnectedFleet Platform

Michelin’s new generative AI tool delivers instant fleet insights, helping managers analyze fuel use, tire maintenance, vehicle status, and operational performance without manually creating reports.

Read More →
Ad Loading...
LytxOne Platform.

LytxOne Platform Now Features AI, Compliance, and Asset Tracking Tools

New enhancements add AI-powered insights, asset tracking, compliance automation, and configurable privacy controls to Lytx's all-in-one fleet management platform.

Read More →