The possibilities surrounding Amazon’s Whole Foods purchase are seemingly endless. A lot of expert analysis has examined the impact of this acquisition — from the merger’s effect on the grocery store industry to Amazon’s strengthening physical footprint. But it may ripple further to change what kind of business mergers are done.
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The retailer, which has been working to aggressively expand its brick-and-mortar presence in both the retail and grocery business, will tap 450-plus store locations through this deal and expand its already robust distribution network.
Amazon has acquired more than 80 companies over the years, Forbes reports, including Zappos, Twitch and Souq.com — but the Whole Foods deal is different. Will it expand Amazon’s online grocery capabilities to one-hour delivery? What about Whole Foods — will the organic food grocer suddenly start selling electronics and apparel products?
Tech and social media expert Curtis Silver questioned this and more in a Forbes post, saying the Amazon-Whole Foods deal opens the door to other not-so-typical acquisitions between major tech companies and businesses that cater to everyday life. Future deals could include Google tapping real estate firm Equity Residential to start building Google smart homes, he posits, or perhaps grabbing a retailer of its own like Sears and using the Internet of Things to make smart products.
Silver could see Apple furthering its foray into the medical industry with the acquisition of Liberty Medical or Dexcom, or even Facebook delving into the convenience store fray. It is all about blending brick-and-mortar presence with digital marketing and the power of data.
"Facebook could expand that ad model even further by purchasing a convenience store chain like 7-Eleven, using your demographic data to create not only the ultimate ad experience, but make sure your brand of tobacco is always in stock," Silver wrote in Forbes.
Though many questions remain regarding the Amazon-Whole Foods deal, one thing is certain: should the deal go through, Amazon could gain access to customer data detailing shopper behaviors that the online retailer has been itching to gain access to for years, the Wall Street Journal reports.
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