Amazon's Whole Foods buy a 'game changer' for supermarkets

E-commerce giant Amazon's surprise foray into bricks and mortar retailing via a $US13.7 billion ($18 billion) offer for upscale American grocery chain Whole Foods Markets has sent a shudder through the supermarket sector and is being described as a revolutionary "game changer" for competitors and shoppers.

The stunning move by Amazon's billionaire entrepreneurial founder, Jeff Bezos, is poised to speed up online delivery of groceries, drive down food and drink prices, compress industry profit margins and transform the in-store customer shopping experience through innovative technology, observers said.