Amazon-Whole Foods deal: It’s not just about food

Thu, 2017 / 06 / 29

Two weeks ago, the e-commerce giant Amazon announced that it is acquiring the American organic supermarket chain Whole Foods. But the retailer’s largest acquisition ever is not just about the future of groceries. The US pharmaceutical market with its over $465 billion prescription sales per year is an incredibly lucrative industry for Amazon. The acquisition of Whole Foods makes it much easier for Amazon to enter into this highly regulated and extremely competitive market. Because Whole Foods offers different urban locations, it could provide a necessary real estate for Amazon customers to pick up prescription drugs.

Although Whole Foods only sells vitamins and wellness supplements, there are already some signs that the e-commerce company is planning to break into the pharmaceutical market: Amazon started to sell medical supplies as well as equipment and is hiring a business lead for its “professional health care program”. Moreover, in Japan Amazon expanded its Prime Now delivery service with the support of local partners to offer prescription drugs. However, Whole Foods tended to avoid selling prescription drugs in the past, suggesting that the entry into the pharmaceutical market might not be immediate.

You can read more about this topic here: http://www.cnbc.com/2017/06/16/amazons-effort-to-sell-prescription-drugs-gets-boost-with-whole-foods.html?utm_source=Sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Issue:%202017-06-20%20BioPharma%20Dive%20%5Bissue:10825%5D&utm_term=BioPharma%20Dive