Receivables Performance Management Reviews: Small Biz News

Receivables Performance Management Reviews: Amazon's Acquisition of Whole Foods Worries Small Producers

Since August 2017, the business world has been abuzz with Amazon's acquisition of Whole Foods. The acquisition was finalized for a whopping $13.7 billion, and local producers, as well as small business owners, fear that the e-commerce giant's takeover would eventually kill their business. According to Receivables Performance Management reviews and research, small producers and businesses, including local restaurants, fear that it's only a matter of time before their businesses would fall into oblivion.

With an efficient ordering and delivery system, and the availability of Whole Foods products on Amazon, it's not only the vendors that could be affected by the acquisition. For instance, local farm-to-table restaurants may suddenly find that they have an online competition for whole, organic foods—and at more affordable prices at that.

Based on Receivables Performance Management reviews and research, small local producers who are current retailers at several Whole Foods stores in their respective regions fear that the centralized distribution system, which translates to a uniform approach across its different stores, will push bigger, more well-known brands front and center, and leave very little room for small players.
Additionally, Whole Foods has informed some of its vendors that the shelf-space fee for high-profile or more visible placement will be increased. Add to this the other factor of shifting to in-house sampling and demos where vendors will need to pay a certain fee for this service and what we are seeing are additional costs that small producers may not be able to afford.

In the past, vendors partnered with other small businesses for their demos and sampling in Whole Foods stores. This shift in in-house demos will not only affect the vendors themselves in terms of costs, it could also affect the small businesses that have been handling the demos and sampling for the vendors.

Another factor that Receivables Performance Management reviews learned is that as Amazon pushes for a more centralized, and uniform distribution, small producers who may not have the capacity to distribute outside their region could be completely shut out of Whole Foods stores. This is highly unfortunate because Whole Foods has always been a champion for small, local producers. Nowadays, however, Amazon's takeover is deemed as more of a death sentence than a shift to a more promising direction for small producers.

On the consumer side, changes brought by the acquisition are most apparent in the discounted prices of some of the store's popular products. The vendors shoulder the price cuts. Last January, Whole Foods talked to their vendors about discounting their products sold at Whole Foods stores.

To be fair, Receivables Performance Management reviews also learned that not everyone shares the same sentiment. Some small producers actually welcome the takeover, and are excited about the positive changes that the acquisition will bring especially regarding how Amazon will take them alongside for growth and success.

How Amazon's changes will play out for the long term remains to be seen. For now, small producers and local businesses are waiting with bated breath as they prepare for the impact of having an e-commerce giant like Amazon disrupt their business.

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