Dive Brief:
- Amazon’s Black Friday Deals Week this year, which runs from Nov. 20-27, includes several grocery items, the e-commerce retailer announced in a press release on Monday.
- Shoppers can get 20% off coffee, snacks and other grocery essentials from its private grocery label lines Solimo, Happy Belly and Amazon Fresh through Amazon's website or app. Whole Foods Market will offer exclusive discounts to Prime members in stores and online, including up to 30% off candles, reusable water bottles and accessories from Nov. 18 to Dec. 1. All shoppers at the specialty grocer can get 25% off probiotic supplements, while Prime members will get an added 10% off from Nov. 27 to Dec. 1. Whole Foods locations will also offer label- and box-free Amazon returns for most products through the end of January 2021.
- Amazon’s Black Friday Week sales will be more focused on holiday gift-giving than the Thanksgiving rush with its discounts in the grocery space on popular gift items.
Dive Insight:
Like its Prime Day deals, which were delayed from July to October this year, Amazon’s holiday discounts are strategized to buff up its Prime membership base, and to drive customers into stores as it expands physical grocery locations on top of Whole Foods with Amazon Go Grocery and Amazon Fresh.
Drawing some of its shoppers to its physical locations may be an attempt to mitigate what is expected to be a huge boom in online shopping this coming holiday season as Amazon's struggles in the early weeks of the COVID-19 pandemic to keep up with surging deliveries drove many shoppers into brick-and-mortar competitors like Walmart and Target. Prime member exclusive deals and making package returns available in-store at Whole Foods locations also further brings the grocer into the broader Amazon "ecosystem."
The Black Friday deals range across Amazon's private grocery label lines, which the e-commerce giant has steadily expanded over the last five years. With Amazon's aggressive interruptions in the grocery space this year, including the opening of three Amazon Fresh brick-and-mortar locations in California, it’s likely that its private labels will broaden the range of food and beverage products.
For grocers, private labels are a way to amass consumer data and brand loyalty among online shoppers — two objectives that Amazon’s Prime-exclusive Black Friday deals also serve to achieve.
Amazon’s Black Friday deals this year also include signals to socially responsible consumers, who may be warier of shopping at the e-commerce giant given its track record on labor conditions, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic. Its "Oprah’s Favorite Things" promotion, now in its sixth year, celebrates Black-owned businesses including in the food and beverages industry, while its Climate Pledge Friendly line directs shoppers to sustainable options.
Turkey Wednesday, traditionally one of the busiest days of the year for grocery retailers, may look slightly different in 2020 as shoppers are encouraged to avoid hosting large family gatherings with COVID-19 daily cases hitting record highs. Separately from Amazon's Black Friday deals, Whole Foods Market unveiled a string of Thanksgiving deals last week, including a "Thanksgiving Turkey Protection Plan" for first-time turkey cooks and Whole Foods brand turkey discounts.
