Whole Foods CEO Jason Buechel Named VP of Amazon Grocery
Jason Buechel, CEO of Whole Foods Market, is taking on an expanded role as vice president of Amazon's Worldwide Grocery Stores (WWGS).
Doug Herrington, CEO, Worldwide Amazon Stores, revealed the news in an online company update.
Buechel has been with Whole Foods since 2023. Before he was appointed CEO, he served as COO, providing operational leadership over all Whole Foods physical stores and overseeing the grocer’s technology, supply chain and distribution, store real estate and design, and HR functions.
"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," Herrington wrote.
Since creating a single WWGS organization in 2022, Amazon also has worked to make grocery shopping simpler, faster and more affordable. WWGS sells millions of SKUs online and fresh groceries in 10 countries across North America, Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
"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," Herrington wrote. "This work will continue under Jason’s leadership. I am incredibly energized by our 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. 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."
"I’m truly humbled by the opportunity to serve as the new leader of Worldwide Grocery Stores at Amazon," Buechel wrote in a LinkedIn post. "This expanded responsibility gives me an opportunity to look after the collective grocery offering across Amazon Fresh, Whole Foods Market, Amazon Go and Grocery Partnerships. ... I’ve never been more excited about the work Amazon is doing to improve the grocery shopping experience for customers and can’t wait to dig in further. ... We still have more work in front of us, but I’m energized by our progress to date and excited about the continued invention that’s ahead."
Buechel will join the Amazon Stores Leadership Team, reporting to Herrington. Claire Peters will continue in her role leading Amazon Fresh, Amazon Go and Grocery Partnerships, and Anand Varadarajan will continue to lead product and technology for WWGS. Both will report to Buechel.