Walmart Partners With Wild Oats To Sell Cheaper Organics

Published April 10, 2014 at 12:40 PM CDT

Wild Oats, a popular organic food brand in the 1980s, will soon be on the shelves in the grocery section of your local Walmart. Wild Oats products are projected to sell for 25 percent less than other national organic brands, and will likely bring about a huge shift in organics supply chain. (Bill Lile/Flickr)

Look out, Whole Foods. This month, Walmart will start offering a new line of organics about 25 percent cheaper than the national organic brands it already carries, and those sold by its competitors.

The giant retailer is partnering with Wild Oats to bring in a new line of organic products. Wild Oats was a popular health brand in the 1980s and was acquired by Whole Foods in 2007.

But the Federal Trade Commission challenged the purchase, saying it was concerned about loss of competition. Ultimately, Whole foods sold its holdings in Wild Oats in 2009.

Now, Walmart and Wild Oats are poised to offer big competition for Whole Foods and other stores like Trader Joe’s. Atlantic senior editor Derek Thompson joins Here & Now’s Jeremy Hobson to take a look at what this might mean for consumers, competitors and the organic supply chain.

Guest

Derek Thompson, senior editor and business columnist at The Atlantic. He tweets @DKThomp.