NEW YORK (AP) – Whole Foods shareholders voted Wednesday to bless a $13.7 billion union with Amazon that the organic grocery chain’s CEO had called “love at first sight.”
That approval is one step required to close the deal, which is a bold move into physical stores for Amazon and has the possibility of making big changes to the supermarket industry and online grocery ordering. The deal also needs the go-ahead from government regulators.
By buying Whole Foods, Amazon will get more than 460 stores and potentially very lucrative data about how shoppers behave offline.
Rivals are scrambling to catch up with the e-commerce giant. Walmart, for example, is expanding its grocery delivery service with ride-hailing service Uber and announced Wednesday that it will join forces with Google to let shoppers order goods by voice on Google devices.
The deal may also breathe new life into Whole Foods, which had been under intense shareholder pressure to improve results and retain customers who have more choices about where to get natural foods. As Whole Foods grew, more supermarkets offered similar organic and natural foods, but at cheaper prices.