Amazon is making Whole Foods more affordable
Whole Foods Market, the natural and organic foods supermarket that calls itself America’s Healthiest Grocery Store, is trying to shed another nickname, Whole Paycheck, as it “[pursues] the vision of making [its] high-quality, natural and organic food affordable for everyone.”
Prices at Whole Foods are about to go down.
That’s because the $13.7bn Amazon acquisition closes on Monday (August 28), ushering in a new era in which Whole Foods will offer lower prices on a selection of grocery staples, including produce, meat and fish.
In addition, Amazon said it will start to integrate Amazon Prime into the Whole Foods point-of-sale system and Prime members will eventually receive special savings and in-store benefits. In the future, after “certain technical integration work is complete,” Amazon Prime will become Whole Foods’ customer rewards program.
In addition, Whole Foods’ private label products will be available through Amazon.com, Amazon Fresh, Prime Pantry and Prime Now. And Amazon Lockers will be available in select Whole Foods locations.
“This is just the beginning – Amazon and Whole Foods Market plan to offer more in-store benefits and lower prices for customers over time as the two companies integrate logistics and point-of-sale and merchandising systems,” Amazon said in a release.
“We’re determined to make healthy and organic food affordable for everyone. Everybody should be able to eat Whole Foods Market quality – we will lower prices without compromising Whole Foods Market’s long-held commitment to the highest standards,” said Jeff Wilke, chief executive of Amazon Worldwide Consume, in a statement.
Whole Foods will continue to expand in terms of staff and locations and will maintain operations under the Whole Foods Market brand. John Mackey will continue as chief executive and the headquarters will remain in Austin, Texas.
“It’s been our mission for 39 years at Whole Foods Market to bring the highest quality food to our customers,” Mackey added in the release. “By working together with Amazon and integrating in several key areas, we can lower prices and double down on that mission and reach more people with Whole Foods Market’s high-quality, natural and organic food. As part of our commitment to quality, we’ll continue to expand our efforts to support and promote local products and suppliers. We can’t wait to start showing customers what’s possible when Whole Foods Market and Amazon innovate together.”