Whole Foods has the highest prices despite the April cuts: Bank of America

Whole Foods still has the highest overall prices among US food retailers, despite the widely advertised discounts announced by the Amazon grocer taken in April.

Walmart continues to have the lowest overall prices, but Bank of America analysts Merrill Lynch wrote in a report on Tuesday. Kroger closed the gap with Walmart at an average premium of 7 percent, analysts said. The average Sprout Farmers Market premium price was 8%, while Whole Foods prices were the highest, 34% above Walmart – a higher percentage point than the three or four previous years.

"We continue to believe that Amazon has no impact on Walmart's momentum," said Robert Ohmes, an analyst at Bank of America.

Bank of America's research focused on 10 price studies in eight different metropolitan areas over the past year. The last of them occurred in May after the entry into force of the price changes.

"In our latest price study in Philadelphia, the Whole Foods basket was still up + 39% from Walmart. [was] always with a + 25% basket premium for Walmart, and center-of-store items with a + 58% premium for Walmart, "said Ohmes.

Whole Foods' price cuts, which go beyond Amazon's core members, were heavily product-focused, but were less competitive for items found at the center of the store, analysts said.

The study also found that organic price premiums were shrinking relative to conventional products, an evolution that analysts attributed to competition in the category, especially as Walmart and Target expand their market share. offer of organic products.

While retailers are losing traffic to Amazon for products that buyers can simply buy online, US grocers are stepping up their efforts to compete on pricing and technology. Despite this, e-commerce accounted for only 2.2% of US food and beverage retail sales in 2018, although online market share is expected to reach about 2.7% in 2019, according to a report. separate report from Coresight Research, also released Tuesday.

Delivery time is another area where retailers compete. Walmart announced Tuesday the launch of next day delivery for more than 200,000 items on its website, following Amazon 's announcement last month of a free one – day delivery. for members of choice.

Following the announcement, Jan Kniffen of J. Rogers Kniffen Worldwide told CNBC's "The Exchange" that Walmart's one-day expedition would allow it to remain competitive with respect to Amazon.

"Walmart regularly encroaches on Amazon here," he said. "Those kinds of things keep Walmart in the game."

The next day's shipping should also cost Amazon more than Walmart, he added, since Walmart acquired the Jet.com ecommerce company. Walmart does not disclose the cost of its latest delivery spurt, and Amazon has not yet detailed a schedule for its own shipping deployment the next day.