Latest news with #JasonBuechel
Business Insider
2 days ago
- Business
- Business Insider
Amazon (AMZN) Rattles Grocery Market as It Plans to Expand Its Food Delivery Business
E-commerce giant Amazon (AMZN) is making its same-day fresh food delivery available in more than 1,000 U.S. cities and towns, with plans to expand this to at least 2,300 locations by the end of the year. The idea is to get shoppers to add items like meat, eggs, and fresh produce while browsing its site. Amazon tested the service in select cities last year and found that many first-time grocery customers started shopping twice as often after using same-day delivery for fresh foods. Elevate Your Investing Strategy: Take advantage of TipRanks Premium at 50% off! Unlock powerful investing tools, advanced data, and expert analyst insights to help you invest with confidence. Prime members in most cities can use the service for free on orders over $25, while smaller orders cost $2.99. Non-Prime customers can still access the service, but it costs $12.99 per order regardless of size. Unsurprisingly, the news rattled the grocery market, with shares of Instacart (CART), Kroger (KR), Albertsons (ACI), and Walmart (WMT) all falling following the announcement. It is worth noting that over the past few years, Amazon has been changing its grocery strategy by making changes to its Fresh grocery store chain and opening fresh food delivery to non-Prime members. It has also worked to boost sales of household staples while integrating its 2017 acquisition of Whole Foods Market more closely into its grocery operations. Indeed, in January, Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel took charge of Amazon's worldwide grocery stores, and by June, he announced plans to bring Whole Foods under the Amazon umbrella as part of a wider reorganization. What Is the Price Target for AMZN Stock? Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Strong Buy consensus rating on Amazon stock based on 43 Buys and one Hold assigned in the past three months. Furthermore, the average AMZN stock price target of $264.57 per share implies 19.6% upside potential from current levels.
CNBC
2 days ago
- Business
- CNBC
Amazon launches same-day delivery of meat, eggs, produce in more than 1,000 cities
Amazon is rolling out same-day delivery of fresh foods to more pockets of the U.S. as it looks to encourage shoppers to add meat and eggs to their order while they're browsing its sprawling online store. The company announced Wednesday it's bringing the service to more than 1,000 U.S. cities and towns, including Raleigh, North Carolina, Tampa, Florida, and Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with plans to reach at least 2,300 locations by the end of this year. Amazon began testing the service in a handful of cities last year, where it found shoppers frequently added strawberries, bananas, avocados and other perishables to their order. "Many of these shoppers were first-time Amazon grocery customers who now return to shop twice as often with same-day delivery service compared to those who didn't purchase fresh food," the company said in a release. The service is free for Prime members on orders over $25 in most cities, or for a $2.99 fee if an order doesn't meet that minimum. Shoppers without a Prime membership pay a $12.99 fee to use the service, regardless of order size. Amazon has been retooling its grocery business over the past few years. The company has tweaked its chain of Fresh grocery stores in a bid to attract more shoppers, and it opened up fresh food delivery to shoppers who aren't Prime members. It's also looked to highlight its growing business selling household staples like paper towels, cleaning supplies, bottled drinks and canned food. In January, Amazon tapped Jason Buechel, the CEO of Whole Foods Market, the upscale grocer it acquired in 2017 for $13.7 billion, to lead its worldwide grocery stores business. Buechel announced in June that the company was bringing Whole Foods closer to the Amazon grocery umbrella as part of a reorganization. Previously, Whole Foods had remained largely independent from Amazon's own grocery offerings.
Time of India
26-06-2025
- Business
- Time of India
What made Amazon's grocery head 'angry' during internal meeting: We are ...
Amazon 's grocery division head Jason Buechel erupted during an internal staff meeting last week, calling the company's multilayered approval processes "ridiculous" and declaring they were "wasting time" on administrative red tape that's holding back business initiatives. The Whole Foods CEO and Amazon VP of Worldwide Grocery was responding to an employee who complained about "multiple levels of approval" slowing down decision-making across the grocery business, according to a recording obtained by Business Insider. "The feedback I've gotten from team members and employees is that ultimately, we're wasting time," Buechel said during the meeting. "It's taking too long for decisions and approvals to take place, and it's actually holding back some of our initiatives." 'One Grocery' push drives restructuring Buechel's frustration comes as Amazon undergoes a major grocery business overhaul under his "One Grocery" initiative, which aims to integrate teams from Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh , and Amazon Go . The restructuring has already led to at least 125 job cuts in the Fresh division this week, though Amazon attributed those to a Seattle-area store closure. The company has identified slow-moving procedures in spending and transaction policies as key targets for streamlining, with different policies between Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods creating administrative bottlenecks. Bureaucracy concerns nothing new at Amazon This isn't the first time Amazon's grocery division has faced internal criticism over bureaucratic inefficiencies. In 2021, company leaders had to address concerns about the grocery business's underperformance and deteriorating workplace culture, as previously reported by Business Insider. Since then, the division has seen significant leadership changes, including Buechel's predecessor Tony Hoggett leaving after three years. Amazon has also downsized its cashierless Just Walk Out technology business and slowed Fresh store expansion. The restructuring aligns with CEO Andy Jassy 's company-wide mandate to eliminate bureaucracy and remove inefficient processes, encouraging employees to flag rules that slow operations.
Entrepreneur
25-06-2025
- Business
- Entrepreneur
Amazon Whole Foods CEO Slams Internal Bureaucracy: 'Ridiculous'
Amazon's Vice President of Worldwide Grocery and Whole Foods CEO, Jason Buechel, said the company takes too long to make decisions. An Amazon grocery executive says the company's internal bureaucracy is "ridiculous" and that the retail giant is working to reduce it. At an internal meeting last week for Amazon's grocery team, an employee asked how the company planned to speed up decision-making due to the "multiple levels" needed for approval. The meeting leaked on Wednesday when Business Insider obtained a recording of it. Amazon's Vice President of Worldwide Grocery and Whole Foods CEO, Jason Buechel, responded to the employee's concern by characterizing internal bureaucracy as "ridiculous" and saying that Amazon is trying to speed up processes in several areas, like spending approvals. According to Buechel, bureaucracy slows down Amazon's grocery business and holds the company back. Related: Amazon Tells Thousands of Employees to Relocate or Resign "The feedback I've gotten from team members and employees is that ultimately, we're wasting time," Buechel said at the meeting. "It's taking too long for decisions and approvals to take place, and it's actually holding back some of our initiatives." Jason Buechel. Photo byfor Concordia Summit Amazon's emphasis on reducing bureaucracy extends up to CEO Andy Jassy. In September, alongside a return-to-office mandate, Jassy introduced a "bureaucracy mailbox" for employees to submit examples of where they saw unnecessary processes or rules at the company. By November, that inbox had received more than 500 emails and Amazon had acted on more than 150 suggestions. Jassy also announced in September that the company would eliminate excess layers of middle management by the end of March. Amazon achieved this goal by pausing the hiring of new managers, demoting some managers, and requiring existing managers to increase their number of direct reports. At a leaked all-hands meeting in November, Jassy said that "one of the reasons" he was still at Amazon was "because it's not a political or bureaucratic place." "The reality is that the [senior leadership team] and I hate bureaucracy," Jassy said at the meeting. Related: 'I Hate Bureaucracy': Leaked Internal Amazon Document Reveals How the Tech Giant Is Cutting Down on Middle Management Amazon has laid off more than 27,000 employees since 2022 to cut costs, and recently conducted layoffs in various departments. The retail giant cut dozens of jobs in its Goodreads site and Kindle division earlier this month. Amazon's grocery business faced layoffs earlier this week when the company laid off at least 125 employees who worked in a Fresh grocery store in Federal Way, Washington. An Amazon spokesperson told The Seattle Times that the employees had the option to transfer to similar roles at nearby sites. Amazon employs 1.56 million full-time and part-time employees.
Business Insider
25-06-2025
- Business
- Business Insider
Amazon's Whole Foods chief slams 'ridiculous' bureaucracy in internal meeting: 'We're wasting time'
Amazon is on a mission to cut red tape. The company's grocery boss is going full beans on this goal. During an internal staff meeting for Amazon's grocery business last week, an employee pressed leadership on how the company plans to speed things up, saying "multiple levels of approval" was slowing down decision-making, according to a recording of the meeting obtained by Business Insider. Amazon's VP of Worldwide Grocery Jason Buechel, who's also the CEO of Whole Foods, pounced on the question. He described certain aspects of the grocery business's internal bureaucracy as "ridiculous" and blamed this for bogging down the business. Amazon has identified several slow-moving procedures, such as spending and transaction policies, and is streamlining them to reduce time wasted on "administrative details," he added. "The feedback I've gotten from team members and employees is that ultimately, we're wasting time," Buechel said. "It's taking too long for decisions and approvals to take place, and it's actually holding back some of our initiatives." "One Grocery" Amazon recently overhauled its grocery leadership team and pulled Whole Foods closer into the fold. Since taking over Amazon's entire grocery business earlier this year, Buechel has prioritized integrating teams from Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Go through an initiative called "One Grocery." Eliminating bureaucracy has become a central mandate at Amazon, with CEO Andy Jassy emphasizing the need to remove inefficient processes. Over the past year, the company has trimmed management layers and encouraged employees to flag rules that slow things down. An Amazon spokesperson told BI that Buechel was highlighting the different spending and transaction policies between Amazon Fresh and Whole Foods as an example of where the team is working to "simplify administrative processes." The company is "more optimistic than ever" about grocery, the spokesperson added. 'Overlapping work' The restructuring is leading to job cuts, too. Amazon laid off at least 125 employees in its Fresh grocery division, according to a public notice earlier this week. The Amazon spokesperson told BI that the job cuts were the result of a Fresh grocery store closure in the Seattle area, adding that affected employees have been given the opportunity to transfer to positions at nearby locations. During last week's meeting, Buechel said identifying "overlapping work" across the grocery business is a top priority for the year. He added that this month's restructuring, which brought Whole Foods corporate staff under Amazon programs for pay and performance, aims to create a more "consistent experience" across grocery teams. Concerns over bureaucracy in Amazon's grocery division aren't new. In 2021, company leaders had to respond to criticism over the grocery business's underperformance and deteriorating workplace culture, BI previously reported. Since then, Amazon's grocery division has seen major changes, including a wave of new leadership. Buechel's predecessor, Tony Hoggett, left his role after 3 years. Amazon has downsized its cashierless Just Walk Out technology business and slowed the expansion of Fresh grocery stores. Buechel said at last week's meeting that he couldn't address every question because plans are still being ironed out. He also noted the grocery team faces "a lot of work ahead" and hinted that some resources will "pivot" to other areas. One area Buechel is keeping a close eye on: the competition. He said he visits rival stores weekly to stay inspired and monitor industry shifts. "I am a grocery geek," Buechel said. "I love going into our stores, but I love going into competition."
