Whole Foods basket down 2.5% since '17
Amazon.com Inc.'s $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods Market spawned speculation about how the Internet giant would change the upscale grocer. Two years later the answer is $10.
That's how much the cost of a basket of goods has gone down for Prime members, according to Gordon Haskett Research Advisors, which has tracked a store in Princeton, N.J., since the deal closed in August 2017. And those price cuts have come primarily in two categories -- produce and dairy -- while other items have largely stayed the same or, in the case of bread and snacks, increased.
The shopping list of 106 commonly purchased items, both branded and private-label, was $404.08 in August 2017 and is now $394.10 for Prime members, Gordon Haskett found. That represents savings of about 2.5%, much less than the double-digit price cuts on certain items like avocados and apples that occurred in stores to celebrate the deal closing.
"All shoppers have benefited from several rounds of price cuts on high-quality and organic food over the last two years, and Prime members have already saved more than $250 million at Whole Foods Market," the grocer said in a statement.
Amazon's Prime customers pay $119 a year for speedier delivery and reduced prices on some Whole Foods items.
-- Bloomberg News
No need to shift on Harley's electric Hog
Harley-Davidson is releasing details about the electric motorcycle it's rolling out this year that it hopes will capture the imagination of a new generation of riders and put a charge into its diminishing sales.
The LiveWire, which will soon be available in a limited number of dealerships, will cost nearly $30,000 and can go zero to 60 mph in three seconds. There is no clutch and no shifting.
The company said Thursday that buyers will have access to free charging at participating LiveWire dealers for the first two years.
The Milwaukee motorcycle company has struggled with declining sales and an aging client base in the U.S. and abroad.
Its U.S. motorcycle sales declined 4.2% and international sales fell 3.3% in the first quarter of this year.
-- The Associated Press
Arkansas Index sees gain of 1.48 points
The Arkansas Index, a price-weighted index that tracks the largest public companies based in the state, closed Thursday at 410.45, up 1.48.
"Stocks closed generally higher today despite a midday swoon following an unexpectedly weak 30-year United States Treasury government bond auction as the industrials and financials sectors outperformed the broader market," said Leon Lants, managing director at Stephens Inc. in Little Rock.
The index was developed by Bloomberg News and the Democrat-Gazette with a base value of 100 as of Dec. 30, 1997.
Business on 07/12/2019