Sprouts Farmers Market's CEO Amin Maredia Talks Battle with Amazon
PHOENIX, AZ - In the competitive grocery space, Sprouts Farmers Market has created an organic, health, and wellness niche for itself—a niche that has helped the retailer find success in communities around the country. Because Whole Foods Market offers a similar array of items, many have pitted the two against each other, with Amazon’s Whole Foods acquisition only adding fuel to the flame and leaving many to wonder how it will affect Sprouts’ place in the market.
But, in an interview with TheStreet, Sprouts’ CEO Amin Maredia reveals that the grocer’s biggest competitor isn’t necessarily who many have assumed it is.
“I think the key to understand, and that most people miss, is that we’re in an $850 billion-dollar industry, which Amazon/Whole Foods has a little over 2 percent of market share. So, 98 percent of the space is really conventional supermarkets, club stores, and some specialty stores. Our battle every day is really with the conventional supermarkets. There are over 40,000 conventional supermarkets in America today and very few of them do health and value well and almost nobody does health, value, and experience really well. That’s where Sprouts has really become more and more mainstream for families looking to eat healthy, save, and have a good in-store experience,” Maredia said when asked how Sprouts does battle with Amazon.
Maredia points to Sprouts’ specialization in organic and health goods, and how having a wide assortment, deep flavor profile, and innovative selection that adheres to vegan, gluten-free, and paleo diets has set the grocer apart from conventional supermarkets. Madero also touches on the in-store experience Sprouts has created to help consumers explore the 30,000-square-foot stores, forgetting that grocery shopping can be a chore, and how that emphasis on consumer experience separates the retailer from the pack.
Not abandoning the possibility of an Amazon rivalry, interviewer Brian Sozzi asks if a possible acquisition or banner sale is in Sprouts’ future, to which Maredia replies, “If we’re doing what we’re doing really well, we could be too expensive to buy.” Mysterious!
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