Amazon buying Whole Foods ? Great time to buy physical retail shares in Europe

Amazon used to be seen as the tech company which sell stuff. The planned acquisition of Whole Foods indicates that Amazon has finally come back to its original DNA : A retailer which happens to sell data hosting services.

It also indicates, then, despite all the hype around unmanned Amazon Go stores, delivery drones and smart speakers, Amazon needs to expand its physical network faster. to support its next day/hour/soon minute delivery promise. WholeFoods is just the beginning, there will be more acquisitions, notably in Europe where brick&mortar retailers have been struggling. Amazon is not the only potential buyer. #Alibaba has already bought Intime, a mid-sized department store chain in China, for $ 2.6 billion, in January. The Chinese powerhouse will not let Amazon take the lead so easily.

Following the announcement, share prices from Casino Group, in France, Tesco PLC and J Sainsbury's in the UK, Ahold Delhaize, in the Netherlands, have gone south by 3% to 9%. I believe this is actually a great time to buy some shares from undervalued European retailers. Prices are low. Those retailers are prime acquisition targets for Amazon or Alibaba. Walmart may also want to block the two e-commerce behemoths and launch preventive acquisitions. A perfect storm is forming, and the digitalization of the 800 billion $ grocery and retail market can offer nice returns to smart investors looking beyond short term turbulence. Digital retailers need physical network, and will fight for it. What are your thoughts about this ?

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