Tomer Tagrin, co-founder and CEO, Yotpo

With Amazon’s takeover of Whole Foods complete, it seems Jeff Bezos has set his sights on the soft drink market. A new Whole Foods 365 brand seltzer has launched with five flavors—including grapefruit (a clear shot across the bow of La Croix). And while the packaging was designed sans French translations, Amazon’s meaning was clear: La Croix must surrender. But will it?

Despite media claims to the contrary, La Croix’s juicy slice of market share is unlikely to get squeezed by Amazon. Why? Because La Croix has three things that Amazon can’t take away: cachet, community and distribution.

La Croix Has Cachet

La Croix is cool. A net-savvy social media strategy has catapulted the brand to the top spot in the millennial mind. Actively engaging with micro-influencers along with everyday people is paying dividends for the brand with profits jumping from $49.3 million in 2015 to $107 million in 2017. The beverage regularly bubbles up on BuzzFeed and a quick search on Reddit returns over 49,000 results. There are signature cocktails (the Pina Croixlada), needlepoint art (hello hipsters), and even a music video (let me hear you say “yeah!”). The My La Croix generator took obsession to a new level and the New York Times offered it a letter of recommendation. A Whole Foods house brand is unlikely to ever match this kind of fascination.

La Croix Has A Community

Take a look at La Croix’s Instagram. La Croix constantly posts photos of real people. Why does that matter? User-generated content (UGC) makes brands more relatable. Studies have shown that consumers respond very favorably to UGC. For example: Chobani saw a 225.9% increase in revenue after showcasing users comments and Burberry saw a 50% increase in ecommerce sales after running a campaign featuring UGC. Customer content also provides public proof of a brand’s active fanbase, made viral and sustainable over time thanks to social media.

La Croix Has Distribution Control

Expertly navigating multichannel, La Croix sells direct-to-consumer on its website, major supermarkets, local delis, in bulk at Boxed, and even on Amazon. It cleverly built a distribution channel that isn’t simply Amazon-dependent like many brands today.  Yet, even if Whole Foods 365 was more pervasive, it wouldn’t matter. Inspiring cult-like loyalty means that La Croix can drive traffic and sell directly to fans on its online “shoppe” (where you can order the highly fetishized La Cola seltzer). And it can do this 24 hours a day, 7 days a week just like Amazon does. In a world in which consumer preference is paramount and patience thin, providing the product when, where and exactly how you want it, whether off or online, is incredibly smart.

P.S.: You can buy La Croix on Amazon and not Whole Foods 365. So, there’s that.

La Croix’s has amassed an esprit de corps that is unmatched in the beverage world. And it’s for this reason that Walmart should pay close attention. Much like Warby Parker made eyeglasses sexy, or Quip reengineered toothbrushes to be cool, La Croix turned seltzer water into a statement.  It’s not just the product that people love, it’s the brand. The marketers behind La Croix know this, and with the acquisition of brands like Bonobos and Modcloth, it appears the strategists at Walmart know it, too. La Croix, a brand that matters to the masses, would make a perfect acquisition for Walmart and notch another ‘W’ in the battle against Amazon.

In the short term however, executives at La Croix are more likely to roll their eyes at Amazon’s attempts at pamplemousse impersonation than they are to break into a competitive cold sweat over Whole Foods 365. As the seltzer war heats up, you need to be a brand to be a real player, and people are ultimately what will make that brand.

Yotpo’s platform enables retailers to generate reviews, ratings, questions and answers, and other user-generated content for e-commerce sites.