Whole Foods presses supplier to cut prices
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Amazon's (NASDAQ:AMZN) Whole Foods has reportedly asked suppliers during a recent meeting to lower prices on packaged food products.
Per The Wall Street Journal, Whole Foods center store Senior Vice President of Merchandising Alyssa Vescio told suppliers in a meeting back in December that they should lower prices to adjust for moderating inflation. There has been a media spotlight on the issue of grocery stores and food suppliers overcharging consumers, although the issue is complicated by the big differences in price inflation across categories.
Overall, food prices were up 10.4% in December from a year ago and tracked 0.3% higher from November, per the CPI report. Some of the food categories that still showed elevated levels of inflation included breakfast cereal (+13.0% Y/Y), flour (+23.4%), poultry (+12.2%), lettuce (+24.9%), bakery products (+16.3%), and coffee (+14.3%). However, meat prices moderated quite a bit and were only up 2.0% year-over-year. Other food categories also showed some moderating inflation trends.
United Natural Foods (UNFI) and Hain Celestial (HAIN) are two of the top suppliers by sales to Whole Foods.
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