Amazon has appointed Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel to lead its global grocery stores, replacing Tony Hoggett who departed from the company after less than three years late last year.
Buechel will continue as CEO of Whole Foods – which Amazon acquired for $13.7bn in 2017 – but now takes on expanded responsibility leading Amazon’s Worldwide Grocery Stores division.
Buechel said he was “truly humbled by the opportunity”. Buechel has been with Whole Foods since 2013. Prior to his role as CEO, he served as COO, responsible for operations across all Whole Foods physical stores, and overseeing the company’s technology, supply chain and distribution, store real estate and design, and HR functions.
“Customers are increasingly turning to Amazon for their grocery and everyday essential needs because of our unmatched selection, great prices, and convenient shopping options – be it fast delivery, easy pickup, or enjoyable in-store shopping,” he said. “We still have more work in front of us, but I’m energised by our progress to date and excited about the continued invention that’s ahead.”
Buechel will report to Worldwide Amazon Stores CEO Doug Herrington.
“I am incredibly energised by our momentum in grocery,” Herrington said. “Our new grocery subscription is getting fantastic response from customers. We continue to be focused on great selection and value at Whole Foods Market, Amazon Fresh, and Amazon Go. We’re getting great feedback on our new and redesigned Amazon Fresh stores. We’re also excited by new experiments.”
Hoggett announced he was leaving Amazon in October to join delivery-focused restaurant chain Wonder as its chief operating officer. He joined Amazon at the start of 2022, ending a decades-long career at Tesco, where he had begun his grocery career in 1990 as a trolley boy in a Tesco car park in Bridlington.
In a LinkedIn post at the time, Hoggett said his tenure at Amazon had been “incredible” but “it’s time for the next step in my career”.
“I’m optimistic about the work Amazon is doing to improve the grocery shopping experience for customers, and have no doubt the teams will keep the momentum going in my absence,” he added.
In August 2023, in his first interview as Amazon’s global grocery stores chief, Hoggett said the Amazon role represented “the intersection between something I really love and enjoy, something I think I’ll be good at, and something the world needs”. He added other grocery heavyweights to Amazon’s ranks, such as Claire Peters from Woolworths in Australia and Boots retail director and fellow Tesco veteran Peter Bowrey.
“The world doesn’t need another standardised, big-box grocer. We’re inventing the new because we want to do it differently,” he told The Grocer last year.
Peters will continue in her role leading Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go, and grocery partnerships; likewise Bowrey in his role as VP of Amazon Fresh operations.
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