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 Amazon.com Inc. spent its first day as the owner of a brick-and-mortar grocery chain cutting prices at Whole Foods Market as much as 43 percent. 
 
 In a sign of how the retailer is changing, the Amazon Echo, a voice-activated electronic assistant, was also for sale, for $99.99 -- a sharp pivot into electronics for a company known for kale and quinoa. The Echo Dot, a smaller version, was advertised for $44.99. 
 
 The tech giant’s $13.7 billion purchase of Whole Foods has sent shock waves through the already changing $800 billion supermarket industry. The wedding between Amazon and the upscale grocery promises to upend the way customers shop for groceries. Cutting prices at the chain with such an entrenched reputation for high cost that its nickname is Whole Paycheck is a sign that Amazon is serious about taking on competitors such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc., Kroger Co. and Costco Wholesale Corp. 
 
 “Price was the largest barrier to Whole Foods’ customers,” said Mark Baum, a senior vice president at the Food Marketing Institute, an industry group. “Amazon has demonstrated that it is willing to invest to dominate the categories that it decides to compete in. Food retailers of all sizes need to look really hard at their pricing strategies, and maybe find some funding sources to build a war chest.” 
 
 Whole Foods Market is lowering their prices. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 How Amazon’s Price Cuts May Not Solve Whole Foods’ Problems: Gadfly 
 
 At the store on East 57th Street in Manhattan, organic fuji apples were marked down to $1.99 a pound from $3.49 a pound; organic avocados went to $1.99 each from $2.79; organic rotisserie chicken fell to $9.99 each from $13.99, and the price of some bananas was slashed to 49 cents per pound from 79 cents. The marked-down items had orange signs reading “Whole Foods + Amazon.” The signs listed the old price, the new price and “More to come.” 
 
 Discounts were comparable at other Whole Foods stores in San Francisco and Seattle. Amazon declined to comment. 
 
 For more on Amazon, check out the Decrypted podcast: 
 
 In the Pacific Heights neighborhood of San Francisco, Catherine Oshiro, a 33-year-old product designer, said lower prices may make her change her shopping routine. 
 
 “I usually buy my staples like toilet paper and paper towels at Target and Safeway,” Oshiro said. “If I see the lower prices at Whole Foods, I would start buying those basics here.” 
 
 Katie Bennett, 24, was one of many customers who said she hoped Amazon would offer delivery of Whole Foods items. She picked out a rotisserie-cooked half chicken for lunch at the New York store. 
 
 “Last time I came in, I was thinking about getting the rotisserie chicken, but it was too expensive,” she said. 
 
 Organic Foods’ Premium Prices and Uncertain Benefits: QuickTake 
 
 Rivals Adjust 
 
 Some rivals have already reacted to the kickoff of what could become a new era of selling food in the U.S. 
 
 Wal-Mart, the world’s biggest retailer, has already invested billions into lowering prices across the board over the past year or so, and has revamped the produce section at its U.S stores, improving sight lines, adding more fresh-cut fruits and even creating a sweeter bespoke cantaloupe. That, along with an aggressive rollout of curbside grocery order pickup, helped the company record its best food sales growth in five years in its most recent quarter. 
 
 Costco, meanwhile, has a full slate of organic items that are priced about 30 percent cheaper than the same products at Whole Foods, according to Sanford Bernstein. It’s able to price lower thanks to a business model that charges membership fees, focuses on selling a limited assortment of bulk-sized goods and features a treasure-hunt experience in the stores. 
 
 The price of eggs dropped only 7%. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Avocado prices fell 29%. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 The price of bananas per pound dropped 38%. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Per pound, the price of salmon filets is down 33%. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Butter prices slipped 13%. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Whole Foods lowered beef 29% to $4.99 per pound. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Almond butter prices dropped 13%. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Kale prices crunched 13% to $3.49 per package. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Rotisserie chicken prices fell 29% to $9.99. Photographer: David Williams/Bloomberg 
 
 Maarten van Tartwijk, a spokesman for Ahold Delhaize, the Dutch retailer that owns the Stop & Shop chain in the U.S., said the company has invested heavily in its online operation. And Germany-based retailers Aldi Stores Ltd. and Lidl, touting lower prices, continue to expand in the U.S. 
 
 Investors React 
 
 “We have the human connection, assets, scale and expertise to win with customers and we are leveraging our deep expertise in data to provide value and build loyalty -- so we can continue to serve customers anything, anytime and anywhere,” Kroger spokeswoman Kristal Howard said by email Friday. 
 
 After falling 37 percent this year on disappointing sales and investor concern over the Amazon-Whole Foods union, Kroger stayed essentially unchanged on Monday in New York. 
 
 Sprouts Farmers Market Inc., an upscale grocer that competes with Whole Foods and is cited by analysts as a possible consolidation target, decreased about 10 percent. Shares of Wal-Mart fell 0.8 percent and Target Corp. was down about 1 percent. Costco increased less than 1 percent. Amazon shares rose 0.08 percent. 
 
 “Goodbye, Whole Foods as we know it,” Karen Short, an analyst at Barclays Capital Inc. in New York, said in a note. “The conventional supermarket has not evolved much in decades. But Amazon will likely drive drastically different shopping behavior in grocery. The survival of the fittest has begun.” 
 
 — With assistance by Olivia Zaleski, Laura Yin, Alexandria Arnold, and Spencer Soper 

 Whole Foods/Facebook 
 
 Whole Foods just got less expensive. 
 
 On Monday, the day that Amazon's $13.7 billion acquisition of the grocer went through, prices on certain Whole Foods items immediately dropped. 
 
 "Starting Monday, Whole Foods Market will offer lower prices on a selection of best-selling staples across its stores, with much more to come," the companies said in a press release on Thursday. 
 
 In the release, Amazon and Whole Foods specifically mentioned certain items that would become less expensive when the acquisition was finalized. 
 
 On Friday, Business Insider visited a Whole Foods location in the Gowanus neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York, and checked the prices on 15 items (including a few variations on similar items) mentioned by the companies. The total cost of the basket on Friday — pre-acquisition — was $97.76. 
 
 Kate Taylor/Business Insider 
 
 On Monday, we returned to the Gowanus Whole Foods and checked back in on the same items. This time, the total cost of the 15 items was $75.85. That's a nearly 23% drop in the total cost. 
 
 Some of the new discounts nearly cut prices in half. Bananas, for example, used to be sold for $0.79 a pound. Now they cost $0.49 a pound. The price of local grass-fed 85% lean ground beef went to $6.99 a pound from $10.99. 
 
 Kate Taylor/Business Insider 
 
 Whole Foods is labeling the price cuts as "New Lower Price," with the tag "Whole Foods + Amazon." 
 
 Here's how much money customers are now saving on these 15 items: 
 
 Whole Trade Banana: 30 cents (Price dropped to $0.49 a pound from $0.79) 
 
 (Price dropped to $0.49 a pound from $0.79) 85% Lean Ground Beef: $2 (Price dropped to $4.99 a pound from $6.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $4.99 a pound from $6.99) Local Grass-Fed 85% Lean Ground Beef: $4 (Price dropped to $6.99 a pound from $10.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $6.99 a pound from $10.99) Four-pack of Organic Avocado: $0 (Price stayed at $6.99 for a pack of four) 
 
 (Price stayed at $6.99 for a pack of four) Hass Avocados: $1.01 (Price dropped to $1.49 each from $2.50) 
 
 (Price dropped to $1.49 each from $2.50) Organic Large Brown Eggs: 30 cents (Price dropped to $3.99 from $4.29 for a dozen ) 
 
 (Price dropped to $3.99 from $4.29 for a dozen ) Fresh Atlantic Salmon Fillet: $5 (Price dropped to $9.99 a pound from $14.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $9.99 a pound from $14.99) Frozen Atlantic Salmon Fillet: $0 (Price stayed at $10.49 a pound) 
 
 (Price stayed at $10.49 a pound) Fresh Tilapia Fillet: $4 (Price dropped to $7.99 a pound from $11.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $7.99 a pound from $11.99) Organic Baby Kale: 50 cents (Price dropped to $3.49 a pack from $3.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $3.49 a pack from $3.99) Organic Baby Lettuce: 50 cents (Price dropped to $3.49 a pack from $3.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $3.49 a pack from $3.99) 365 Brand Almond Butter: $1 (Price dropped to $6.99 a jar from $7.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $6.99 a jar from $7.99) Organic Fuji Apples: $1.50 (Price dropped to $1.99 a pound from $3.49) 
 
 (Price dropped to $1.99 a pound from $3.49) Organic Gala Apples: $1 (Price dropped to $1.99 a pound from $2.99) 
 
 (Price dropped to $1.99 a pound from $2.99) Organic 365 Brand Butter: 80 cents (Price dropped to $4.49 for four quarters from $5.29)
– Under Amazon, "Whole Paycheck" may need to be updated as "Most-but-Not-All-of-My Paycheck." Amazon on Monday finalized its $13.7 billion takeover of the grocer, and Bloomberg reports new orange signs marked "Whole Foods + Amazon" now appear throughout the grocery store and herald the new prices shoppers get under the merger. Both Bloomberg and Business Insider went shopping at NYC-area Whole Foods last week, then returned again Monday to get updated prices. Here are eight items that no longer cost what they once did: Organic bananas: $0.99 per pound to $0.69 (30% decrease) Farm-raised Atlantic salmon: $14.99 per pound to $9.99 (33% decrease) Organic large brown eggs: $4.29 per dozen to $3.99 (7% decrease) 85% lean ground beef: $6.99 per pound to $4.99 (29% decrease) Organic avocados: $2.79 each to $1.99 (29% decrease) Organic packaged baby kale: $3.99 per package to $3.49 (13% decrease) Organic rotisserie chicken: $13.99 each to $9.99 (29% decrease) Organic Fuji apples: $3.49 per pound to $1.99 (43% decrease) See the full list of price cuts here, or read about what else Amazon has planned for Whole Foods here.