Business | Schumpeter

Why Walmart is trouncing Amazon in the grocery wars

Walmart is more of a threat to the e-commerce giant than the other way around

An Amazon grocery shopper slipping and dropping food on the ground — Image: Brett Ryder

Jul 24th 2023

When Amazon announced the $13.7bn acquisition of Whole Foods Market in 2017, it came after some oddball attempts to strengthen its grocery business, some conceived by Jeff Bezos himself. One was to develop an “ice-cream truck for adults”, driving into neighbourhoods with lights flashing and horns honking, to sell porterhouse steaks, Shigoku oysters, Nintendo games and other goodies. It was quietly shelved. Another was to create a product so unique that only Amazon could supply it. The answer was the “single-cow burger”, a Wagyu beef patty made from the meat of one animal. You can still find them on its website—though they are now permanently out of stock.

This article appeared in the Business section of the print edition under the headline “Basket case ”