The news: Eight years after acquiring Whole Foods, Amazon is moving to more fully integrate the grocer into its core business, Business Insider reports.

• The reorganization marks the first major strategic shift under Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel, who took on the additional role of Amazon’s grocery chief in January.
• In a memo cited by BI, Buechel said the restructuring will streamline operations by cutting duplicative efforts across Amazon’s grocery brands.

The context: The move is the latest step in Amazon’s slow-moving effort to unify its grocery ecosystem, which includes Whole Foods, Amazon Fresh supermarkets, and Amazon Go convenience stores.

• After acquiring Whole Foods in 2017, Amazon largely allowed the grocer to operate independently. That hands-off approach resulted in teams working on similar functions across Fresh and Whole Foods often having minimal collaboration and delayed integrations—like applying Prime benefits in-store and enabling Amazon returns at Whole Foods.
• Amazon began shifting course under former grocery head Tony Hoggett, a Tesco veteran who centralized roles like real estate and marketing, aiming to consolidate Amazon’s fragmented online ordering experience.

Our take: Amazon is clearly aware of the friction—and the opportunity—in its grocery ecosystem. At Prime Analyst Day, Meredith Bunche, director of growth and marketing for Amazon’s grocery stores, said the company is focused on unifying the online shopping experience.

• To that end, Amazon has begun consolidating grocery and non-grocery fulfillment in same-day delivery centers across three markets, with 15 more planned by year’s end. This will enable shoppers to order items like tennis balls and tomatoes in one basket and receive them within hours.
• A more seamless experience could help Amazon capture greater grocery share, especially as many consumers shop across multiple retailers. The company is already experimenting with new concepts, including a micro-fulfillment center attached to a Whole Foods in Pennsylvania, and a two-level high-rise store in Chicago that combines an Amazon Grocery on the first floor featuring products like Coca-Cola and Tide Pods, with a Whole Foods above it.
• Still, a fully blended store format—combining Whole Foods’ natural and organic strengths with the mainstream convenience of Fresh—could hold the most promise for shoppers seeking both organic kale and Cheetos under one roof.