With Amazon.com’s purchase of Whole Foods Market Inc., the online giant will control 1.2 percent of the grocery market in the Tampa Bay region.
That was Whole Foods’ market share in Hillsborough, Pinellas, Hernando and Pasco counties in 2016, according to Chain Store Guide. Whole Foods has three stores here, with two in Tampa and one in Clearwater.
Amazon is planning to buy the specialty grocer for $13.7 billion, but the implications of the deal go far beyond the more than 400 Whole Foods stores it will own. It will mean a new level of competition for Publix Super Markets Inc., which is based in Lakeland. Publix employs more than 36,000 people in the Bay area, including corporate workers at the Lakeland headquarters.
Publix, the hometown grocer, controls 39.3 percent of the grocery market with 117 stores here, according to Chain Store Guide. Use the interactive graphic below to see grocers’ market share versus number of stores.
Winn-Dixie and Winn-Dixie Marketplace, which are owned by Jacksonville-based Southeastern Grocers, has nearly as many stores in that same area — 100, according to Chain Store Guide. But it controls only 16.1 percent of the market. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. controls 16.4 percent of the market with just 32 stores. (That figure doesn’t include Walmart Neighborhood Markets, which account for 3.2 percent of the market with 17 stores.)
The market share numbers will likely look different in the coming years. Amazon’s digital savvy has the potential to increase Whole Foods’ market share, and there are new competitors to consider. Sprouts Farmers Market Inc. is just entering the Florida market, with three stores open so far this year (in Carrollwood, South Tampa and Sarasota).
German discount grocer Aldi, which controls 1 percent of the market with 15 stores, recently announced it will ramp up its U.S. expansion plans. Lidl, another German discount grocer, appears to be laying the groundwork to enter Florida in the coming years.