Amazon has named Whole Foods Market CEO Jason Buechel as vice president of Amazon Worldwide Grocery Stores, signaling a strategic focus on the future of its grocery operations.
Worldwide Amazon Stores CEO Doug Herrington announced in a post on Amazon’s website that Buechel will take on expanded responsibility leading Worldwide Grocery Stores, while maintaining his current role as CEO of Whole Foods Market, joining the store’s leadership team and reporting to Herrington.
“[Buechel] has been with WFM since 2013. Prior to his role as CEO, he served as [chief operating officer], providing operational leadership over all WFM physical stores, and overseeing the company’s technology, supply chain and distribution, store real estate and design, and HR functions,” Herrington said. “In his time as CEO, Jason has unlocked our ability to make high-quality natural and organic groceries more affordable and accessible to customers, helping WFM achieve record sales growth and expand to over 535 locations. Claire Peters and Anand Varadarajan will report to Jason moving forward.”
Herrington said that, since creating a single Worldwide Grocery Stores organization in 2022, “we have made notable progress in our vision to make grocery shopping simpler, faster and more affordable for customers. We’ve taken steps to integrate our huge grocery selection across our broader logistics network and create a more seamless experience for customers, especially Prime members. This work will continue under Jason’s leadership.
Herrington said he is “incredibly energized” by the company’s momentum in grocery.
“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,” he said. “We’re getting great feedback on our new and redesigned Amazon Fresh stores. We’re also excited by new experiments, like in Phoenix, where customers can shop tens of thousands of grocery items — including fresh groceries — alongside millions of Amazon.com products, and have them delivered, together, in hours.
“Jason will be a fantastic leader to take the team forward and deliver on the solid 2025 plans the team has built,” Herrington added. “Claire will continue in her role leading Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go and Grocery Partnerships, and Anand will continue to lead all of product and technology for [Worldwide Grocery Stores]. I’m thankful for their support through this transition.”
