There was also an article that talked about the brilliance of Amazon biz organization. Business units are set up like API interfaces, ones that serve both internal needs as well as external customers. The author's claim is that it helps trim the fat, with what was normally internal services being exposed to market forces. It makes me also wonder about WF's fate from that perspective.
Groceries are not APIs.
TJ is a good deal for some things but it only somewhat overlaps.
What you will see is a relationship between Amazon Prime and WF. But, as with the case with Twitch, it will be Amazon that deals with that and WF will likely continue to do its thing while Amazon generates MORE customer loyalty and a new customer base.
If money weren't a matter, I would love to shop at whole foods: shopping for groceries seems more of an experience there than at other places. Maybe using Amazon's superior operations management would let them lower prices even further attracting more regular customers.
When I airbnb'd in someone's Portland home once, The host worked for another local alr grocer chain, proudly telling me it is like WF but better.
Just a tangent: the downtown Seattle WF has a fantastic eatery ... and in the months before I moved, it turned into a major Amazon employer hangout, after the Amazon HQ moved there. Now I marvel at the irony it is effectively an externalized company cafeteria.
https://techcrunch.com/2017/05/14/why-amazon-is-eating-the-w...
Flip side is that, according to this: http://www.bizjournals.com/seattle/news/2017/03/27/amazon-go...
There are a lot of troubles with the logistics around distributing produce. The models Amazon has for managing non-perishable goods is not working well for things like bananas. It would be stupid of Amazon not to try to learn from logistics experts from Whole Foods, and Amazon has a good track record for not being stupid.
Side note: just yesterday, my wife and I went to our local Fry's for our normal shopping. They are testing hand-held devices to scan items while you shop and then just settle at the self-checkout line; this was fairly new. We gave it a try just to see what the experience is like (and likely, by the time my step-daughter comes to age, something like this will be normal). I remarked to my wife that Fry's isn't sitting still, waiting for Amazon to take over grocery shopping with Amazon Go, either.
Trader Joe's has limited selection and is mostly on the cheap side, often even cheaper than Ralph's in SoCal. Its the place I go for cheap produce that just happens to be organic/natural/etc... (though I don't really care about the latter).
Here in the Bay Area I'm really happy with Draeger's. Haven't really been back to WF much since I started going there. Unlike Trader Joe's it does have a reasonably complete selection of meats (and for specialty cuts there are local butchers).
We had WF delivery for a couple of years. It was great for us. But, you could tell they were trying (unsuccessfully) to monetize it. When they curtailed it they offered a pickup service as replacement: Instacart is the app for placing orders. On the whole, the pickup service works pretty well except you don't get sale prices.
I can see delivery coming back now that Amazon is in the picture. I can also see a bigger push to sell prepared foods for delivery. Prepared foods are the real money makers.