Since Amazon’s surprising purchase of Whole Foods, conversation has increased around how the future of retail will look as Amazon and Walmart continue to dominate the consumer space. One of the effects of this is that investors are searching for companies that are Amazon-proof and cannot be cannibalized by the retail giant.
Amazon’s relentless growth and destruction of value among traditional retail rivals is forcing active fund managers to look for bets in areas they think Amazon can’t or won’t reach.
Emerging options include theme restaurant chains, recreational vehicle makers and sellers of stuff that’s just too heavy to ship via Amazon’s network. Meanwhile, some fund managers are increasingly convinced the only way to play consumer spending is to move away from brands and retailers and into logistics and supply chain companies, essentially betting e-commerce will render most consumer companies obsolete.
This effect can be seen in Blue Apron’s recent IPO. In the wake of Amazon’s acquisition of Whole Foods, Blue Apron lowered their projected valuation by over $1 billion, and the stock saw no movement on its first day on the market due to investor hesitation to enter the food delivery space at this time.
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